Freedom, Liberty, and Meaning in the Slave Narrative: Comparison of Works by Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Olaudah Equiano (Page 1 of 2)

Other articles in our Literature Archives related to this topic include :Analysis and Summary of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass   •  Comparison of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the Autobiography of Malcolm X   •     Opposing Representations of Christianity in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass        •   The Incompatibility of Education and Slavery in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass    •      Analysis of “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes     •       The Role of Education and Literacy in Slave Narratives (Douglass, Washington, Equiano)    •       Slavery in America's South : Implications and Effects

The concept of freedom and liberty is slightly different in various slave narratives. While all of them maintain that the institution of slavery must be abolished before freedom can be had for all, these three men, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and Olaudah Equiano, realize that there are other equally important elements that define freedom. Most notably, they all agree that education combined with circumstance will allow liberty and that family and a sense of self that is rooted in history are also vital aspects. Overall, these men have much in common but in order to explore the role of individual ideals of liberty, it is worth exploring how these ideas vary slightly.

To Frederick Douglass, freedom and liberty remained vague concepts for a great deal of time. Some of his first realizations about what it is not, namely the gross inequities of plantation life formed the basis for his later struggle to emerge from slavery. For instance, he realizes from an early age when he explained in one of the important quotes from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : An American Slave,  “I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his birhday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same priviledge.” Instead of merely pointing out the fact that he did not know the details of his background is a structurally vital part of the narrative, but Douglass takes this observation one step further by remarking upon the difference between the white and black children. Instead of merely accepting this difference, he is keenly aware of the inequality of even the most minor details. These descriptions of inequality plague the first half of the book and the reader realizes the “worth” of a slave when Douglass states, “We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married ands single, were ranked with horses, sheep and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination” (51). It is clear that Douglass wants his readers to see the humanity of both himself and other slaves and thus before he can begin the “freedom seeking” portion of the narrative this is necessary foregrounding.

For Frederick Douglass, there were several routes that appeared to be the most direct one to reach a sense of freedom and liberty. At first, he is convinced that the key to freedom is as simple as moving to an urban area. He remarks, “A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave on the plantation. He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave on the plantation. There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty enacted on the plantation” (38). Later, he comes to find that while the conditions may be slightly better there is still a great deal of injustice. He then begins to think that his education will be the secret to freedom and liberty and although he endeavors to learn as much as possible, he begins to doubt whether or not he was correct. At one point he states, “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (47). In the end, these elements of freedom—becoming urban and educated—led to his final act of rebellion, which he hoped would bring freedom. He engages in a fight with is cruel master. He can no longer stand the combination of inequality with his newfound sense of education and urban knowledge. He states, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free” (70). He gets away and becomes a free man, only to realize that these is still no such thing as complete freedom for a black man, even in the North. He recalls, “There I was in the midst of thousands, and yet a perfect stranger; without home and without friends, in the midst of thousand of my own brethren—children of a common Father, and yet I dared not to unfold to any one of them my sad condition” (79). For Douglass, freedom and liberty had to be obtained through a combination of factors, with education at the top, followed closely by a rebellious spirit and access to friendly Northerners and the community of urban blacks who were able to live more progressive lives away from the plantation. Without this combination, there might not be success.

According to one scholar, freedom for a slave in the South such as Douglass meant being willing to act in a revolutionary manner. When one considers this, the fact that he hit his master as well as taught himself to read and write are both certainly revolutionary. “As Douglass proclaimed in the Narrative: ‘In coming to a fixed determination to run away, we did more than Patrick Henry, when he resolved upon liberty or death’. The slaves’ resistance literally and figuratively embodied the founder’s challenge. To Douglass, they appropriated and proceeded beyond Henry’s words to match their own actions at great bodily risk.” In the end, for Douglass, freedom meant the ability to think freely, to have an education, to be able to work for regular wages and support oneself, and most importantly, to be human—to be viewed in the same way whites viewed themselves.

This Article Continues on Page 2 >>>

Article by Nicole Smith  ~   All Content Copyright 2008 Article Myriad. All Rights Reserved.

* If you are using this article as a study guide or as a resource for your own essays, please make sure to cite it as your source with proper citation, (even if you are just using a few important quotes or the same thesis statement or thesis statements) as this essay or article  is copyrighted material. For a short summary of citation guides, please visit the MLA main website where a synopsis, tips and analysis on how to properly cite references can be found.*