In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass his mistress was going to teach Fredrick Douglass how to read. His master would not allow that to happen,
“A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” (Douglass 29).
Hearing this, young Douglass saw this as his way to freedom. But knowledge was a curse; it only made him realize how bad his condition really is. Knowledge is in all societies seen as a positive aspect. For Douglass it is a curse since it only made him realize how bad and inhumane his situation was, but there was no way to actually escape. In a sense he could see the light but was unable to reach it. He learned about this wonderful free society that could not be achieved. Baltimore was a step closer to freedom compared to the plantation, but it still could not be attained.
We thought it was interesting how the freedom in Baltimore affected Douglass. Although in Baltimore he was a slave he was treated better and learned how to read and write. When he was forced to go back to the plantation, he saw himself differently then the other slaves. He lost a “connection” with them; he had seen freedom therefore he was almost better than the other slaves. This is not only an effect of this “freedom” he had in Baltimore but also the education he received. The plantation slaves can’t read, Douglass has learned about the free world through newspapers and books he was able to get a hold of. He was separated from them since they had no aspirations to be free from the horrible institution of slavery. Education almost created a “new class” for Douglass within the slaves. Learning to read had separated him from his fellow slaves, it had set him apart and opened him to a new world.
Another aspect that caught our eyes during these chapters was the effect that slavery had not only on the slaves but also on the masters. The mistress (Mrs. Auld) that Fredrick Douglass first met was kind hearted and treated him with an attitude that he was so unfamiliar with he didn’t know how to respond. Mrs. Auld was also teaching Fredrick how to read, but Mr. Auld swiftly put that to an end, as he stated that teaching a slave to read was bad for everyone in the party. This brings us to think about the aspect of fear. Earlier we discussed that fear was a main expression in making/breaking a slave, but it appeared to us that in this section of the book, fear was another aspect in making a master. Mrs. Auld was afraid of what her husband would do if he caught her teaching Fredrick how to read, so she made it her mission to make sure he wasn’t reading at all. It seems to us that the aspect of fear was all around, and it was what made slavery happen. Not just the fear of the slaves but the masters too. Also in the earlier chapters, there was the discussion about the fear of slave masters from their own wives. The wives would see some of the more attractive women slaves as a threat, and punish for no reason at all,
“I know of such cases…such slaves invariably suffer greater hardships… They are, in the first place, a constant offence to their mistress. She is ever disposed to find fault with them; they can seldom do anything to please her; she is never better pleased than when she sees them under the lash…”
(Douglass 13-14).
The slave masters feared the repercussions of their wives, and what would happen to a mulatto child if one were to be born. If a slave master had a child with a slave, he usually had to send said child away, because if he were seen favoring the child, the wife would realize that he had sex with a slave, and probably go after the child. So fear was all around everyone. After a while, Fredrick, and all the slaves noticed a change in Mrs. Auld. She was no longer this happy woman who treated the slaves as almost equals. She had changed into a woman who didn’t care about them, and she believed that they were not as good as her anymore. Slavery changes people; it changes how they think of others, and who they are as a person, because of what they are surrounded by and information that is being forced upon them. We believe that fear was a huge aspect around both sides of slavery, and it can be found throughout these first eight chapters.
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