The Two Slave by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs

Both Jacobs and Douglass bear us with archivess that demonstrate the torture and cruelty slaves were subjected to by their "masters." In Douglass' case, he found education as a form of resistance, precisely it was education that had to be kept secret. outmatchs knew that educated slaves world power rebel, so they wished to keep them uneducated. As Douglass (1845) informs us, while living with Master Hughes' family, "I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems" (39).

One of Douglass' stratagems was to befriend white boys who unwittingly helped him learn to read. He would often take his work with him on errands, do them quickly, and then study during the time before he had to return. He acquires The Columbian Orator, and disc overs there is a Christian possible in favor of abolition and emancipation. Learning of human rights and a group in favor of emancipation heartens Douglass, but, as he contends, his education "?opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out" (Douglass 1845 42-43). By observing the place carpenters at Durgin and Bailey's, Douglass learns to write by imitateing letters and haggle used to mark ship parts. He also copies spell books as a means of learning to write. Such stratagems, as providing hungry poor white boys with bread to help him learn, enabled Dou

glass to retain autonomy over his education when his master and wife refused to educate him or provide him with the tools for doing so. When he finally gets a hold of a copy the Liberator, Douglass (1845) sees light at the end of the tunnel of bondage, "The paper became my affectionateness and drink. My soul was set all on fire. Its sympathy for my brethren in bonds?sent a thrill of joy with my soul, such(prenominal) as I had never felt before" (101).

though Douglass would suffer cruelties at the hand of Mr.

Covey and other masters, his suppuration autonomy over his education eventually enabled him to escape. Such stratagems as used by him to gain his autonomy are of a different kind than those used by Harriet Jacobs to retain autonomy. Douglass' narrative shows the autonomy over his mind that he achieved through a number of stratagems. Jacobs' narrative shows that she achieved autonomy over her body through a number of stratagems. Jacobs' (1861) narrative shows that many slaves remember slavery as a dream, and Douglass admits as much in his memories of its abuses, "I know that some are too much brutalized by slavery to feel the humiliation of their position; but many slaves feel it most acutely, and shrink from the memory of it" (Chapter 5).

Blassingame, J. W. (1972). The Slave Community. tender York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Douglass, F. (1845). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1973.

In sum, the writings of Blassingame and the narratives of Douglass and Jacobs illustrate how slaves often resorted to oppositional strategies in order to ma
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.