Journal for Douglass

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Douglass
October 13th, 2009

Quote:
“Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardship and suffering.”-quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature, 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
Douglass is speaking about his mother in this quote. Douglass could not have known much about his mother because he was taken away from her when he was still very young. Douglass was told of her death and took the news “with the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” He couldn’t have felt any other way with the very infrequent and brief meeting he had with his mother. His mother did not tell him who his father was. He heard whispers about who people thought it was but nothing solid. The separation of mother and son at Douglass’s early age prevented him for feeling deeper grief for the loss of his mother. Douglass wanted to show readers how this was common for slaves to be separated from their children, but he does not know the reason for doing this other then cruelty towards slaves.

Quote:
“Frederick Douglass sought to embody three keys for success in life:
Believe in yourself.
Take advantage of every opportunity.
Use the power of spoken and written language to effect positive change for yourself and society.” -quoted from the Biography of Frederick Douglass (http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html)
Summary:
Douglass did believe in changing your life for the better by writing. His autobiographies showed a first hand experience of the extreme harsh and mistreatment of slaves. Douglass met hardships even as a free man in the North. He would write about those experiences also. Douglass proved to have a strong character when dealing with the oppression and set backs. If Douglass had a weaker character, he probably wouldn’t have published or been a public speaker. Both of which helped many people become antislavery.

Response:
Douglass’s writing showed American a first person view of slavery. Douglass became an speaker for African-American and women’s rights. His name is now famous among in American history because he was a educated slave who became a free man and still strived to change America into a better place.