Reviews - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave

2.01k reviews for:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave

Frederick Douglass

4.14 AVERAGE

janiesuesnovelist's review against another edition

4.0

medium-paced

Everyone should read this

therapybard2021's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

I had to read this for my English class and this is a very rare case where I'm glad for it. It's incredibly dark but also strangely hopeful. It was intense to watch Douglass fight for every bit of agency he could get. The lack of detail on his actual escape was disappointing but I fully understand Douglass's reasoning. The real excitement wasn't his escape, but the joy and community he managed to find afterwards.

jeanishimwe's review against another edition

5.0

“No matter how innocent a slave might be - it availed him nothing, when accused by Mr. Gore of any misdemeanour. To be accused was to be convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished; the one always following the other with immutable certainty. To escape punishment was to escape accusation; and few slaves had the fortune to do either…” (pg 13

Douglass identifies the general dishonour of the enslaved in the slave holding society. Guilty before conviction because one is guilty from birth. An alienated birth in which you do not know your mother (natal alienation) and, therefore, have no lineage, no people outside of the institution of your labour. You are your exploited labour, you are your conviction, and you are your punishment.

This condition informs the violence that organizes your existence; a world ordering violence. Gratuitous violence that does not have to be justified or defended. The enslaved is chattel, property to be shifted, broken, loved (fucked), killed and replaced. To consider this condition is to consider George Jackson, “the social phenomena that engages the consciousness of the slave is revolution”. To consider Jackson’s conclusion is to consider CLR James and the outlook of the San Domingo masses; the enslaved must destroy tirelessly because as long as the sites of their subjection still stand, they will be returned there. The rich are not defeated unless they are running for their lives.

Now return to Douglass, “For my part, I should prefer death to hopeless bondage” (Pg 88).