Frederick Douglass Paper Assignment - Essay Example

Douglas demonstrated that his spirited desire and will to be a free man was stronger than slavery. There is a clear difference between slaves and men. Slaves are people whom masters owned. Masters also referred to as slave owners, exercised full control of their slaves’ life. Masters denied slaves any kind of freedom and were constantly at their masters’ mercy. The main difference between slaves and men is that men were people who were guaranteed their rights and freedoms. Slave owners were regarded as men while slaves were regarded as boys (Douglas 64).

Douglas states that his master knew what a man or a boy was capable of. He regards his master as a man and themselves as boys (64). Men were accorded respect and referred to as a mister. Douglas refers to his slave owner as Mr. Convey. Douglas used the term mister when talking about his master (65). He has also used the term mister to refer to a certain black man who was not a slave. He referred him as Mr. Samuel Harrison (Douglas 66). This clearly draws the line between men and slaves. Douglas (68) in one of his lamentations refers himself as a boy who is owned by someone else.

This shows that slaves were regarded as boys and free men and whites were regarded as men. Boys were owned by men. Boys are generally young people are owned and controlled by their parents. This is why Douglas thinks that slaves are boys because they are treated as kids. Douglas was a great man. However, he was not an exception to the brutal life of slavery. Douglas, in his life, underwent a transition from a man to a slave and from a slave to a man. Douglas wrote in his book, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man (69).

” Douglas gives an account of how he became a slave. The reason for giving this account of events was to show the reality with slavery. The quote above appears in chapter ten of his book. He traces