Peyser Paper
Shannon Hollender
Prof. Peyser
1st Paper – Douglass
Due: 4/6/06
(906 words)
To Be Drunk is to Be Free:
Douglass; Enslavement is Wrong
Fredrick Douglass, being a former slave, has the benefit of authority when he speaks of slaves, the slave mentality, and of life as a slave. With this inside authority also came the inherent complications. Being a black man, Fredrick Douglass had little education and even less formal background. Despite this he rose above the stigmas and presented himself as a well-educated authority on the matters of slavery and enslavement. One can speculate as to why he dedicated his life to opening the eyes of the masses to the truths behind slavery but it is likely obvious to most that he did what he did in order to help abolish slavery. He presents in his work Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, an ugly account of slave holders, slavery, and what ends up being the slave mentality one must acquire to cope with being a slave.
In his narrative Douglass offers many arguments and points, but two of the overwhelmingly striking points are 1) that slave owners deceive slaves by making them believe that “there was little to choose between liberty and slavery.” (2073) and 2) that slaves will often convince themselves that their enslavers are so much better than the alternative; this to the extent that they will fight one another before admitting that their own position is the worse for wear.
Douglass, of course, made the first of these points very clear when he explained that masters had the miserable habit of attempting to make holidays; an occasion on which slaves are convinced they are to get a taste of freedom, into a time which the slaves cannot wait to see the end of. As Douglass puts it: “This [is] seen by the fact, that the slaveholders like to have their slaves spend those days just in such a manner as to make them as glad of their ending as of their beginning.”(2073) He explains further that the masters’ “object seems to be to disgust their slaves with freedom,” (2073) and it seems the masters accomplish this dissolution of the slaves “by plunging them into the lowest depths of dissipation.”(2073)
On one hand this indulgence is seen as kindness on behalf of the masters who allocate it to their slaves. The masters give their slaves alcohol and are seemingly giving the slaves a taste of freedom, finery and of that which is seen as one of the “benefits” of liberty. It is in this way, according to Douglass, that slaves became more docile in their attempts for freedom because they became more convinced of the awfulness of independence and choice. Douglass states: “We felt, and very properly too, that we had almost as well be slaves to man as to rum.”(2073) It is “Thus, when the slave asks for virtuous freedom, the cunning slaveholder […] cheats him with a dose of vicious dissipation [which] the most of us used to drink […] down”.
This was the unfortunate truth; that slaves were so misguided and so profoundly disillusioned by what they were tricked into thinking was freedom. To make matters worse, Douglass argues, slaves were also, by human nature, misguided to believe “their own better than that of others.”(2048) Douglass explains that while some slaves do have it better than others, all convince themselves that their particular situation is among the best, if not the very best. Even with cruel masters, “Many, under the influence of this prejudice, think their own masters better than the masters of other slaves”(2048) In this way, supposedly, the slaves are constantly fighting to convince others (and most probably themselves as well) that “the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves”(2048) and that without their masters, they are nothing. In cruel situations as was the common case slaves instead turned to this transference principal to validate themselves and their worth. “It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man’s slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!”(2048)
Slaves were constantly, so it seemed, fighting with, fighting for and fighting against themselves on the issue of freedom. It seemed to be commonly held among slaves that validating their placidity with enslavement was both a necessity and a curse. Freedom, it appeared, was either an illusionary and abstract concept, was the poorer state of existence, or was something which was to be the demise of them. And the slaves believed this. The trickery of the masters seemed to work so well as to placate the slaves and keep them working.
So with his narrative, as well as so many other works, Fredrick Douglass became simultaneously the authority on such matters as the slave mentality and he became the champion to slaves everywhere, offering hope and promise of a better life and way. His was a glimmer of possibility that any slave, common like himself might break free of the mentality shoved upon him, might break free of his bonds, and may rise to a position of affluence and authority. But until then it was downright a sin that slaves were placated in such a way as to believe it:
“So, when the holidays ended, we staggered up from the filth of our wallowing, took a long breath, and marched to the field, -- feeling, upon the whole, rather glad to go, from what our master had deceived us into a belief was freedom, back to the arms of slavery.”(2073)
Prof. Peyser
1st Paper – Douglass
Due: 4/6/06
(906 words)
To Be Drunk is to Be Free:
Douglass; Enslavement is Wrong
Fredrick Douglass, being a former slave, has the benefit of authority when he speaks of slaves, the slave mentality, and of life as a slave. With this inside authority also came the inherent complications. Being a black man, Fredrick Douglass had little education and even less formal background. Despite this he rose above the stigmas and presented himself as a well-educated authority on the matters of slavery and enslavement. One can speculate as to why he dedicated his life to opening the eyes of the masses to the truths behind slavery but it is likely obvious to most that he did what he did in order to help abolish slavery. He presents in his work Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, an ugly account of slave holders, slavery, and what ends up being the slave mentality one must acquire to cope with being a slave.
In his narrative Douglass offers many arguments and points, but two of the overwhelmingly striking points are 1) that slave owners deceive slaves by making them believe that “there was little to choose between liberty and slavery.” (2073) and 2) that slaves will often convince themselves that their enslavers are so much better than the alternative; this to the extent that they will fight one another before admitting that their own position is the worse for wear.
Douglass, of course, made the first of these points very clear when he explained that masters had the miserable habit of attempting to make holidays; an occasion on which slaves are convinced they are to get a taste of freedom, into a time which the slaves cannot wait to see the end of. As Douglass puts it: “This [is] seen by the fact, that the slaveholders like to have their slaves spend those days just in such a manner as to make them as glad of their ending as of their beginning.”(2073) He explains further that the masters’ “object seems to be to disgust their slaves with freedom,” (2073) and it seems the masters accomplish this dissolution of the slaves “by plunging them into the lowest depths of dissipation.”(2073)
On one hand this indulgence is seen as kindness on behalf of the masters who allocate it to their slaves. The masters give their slaves alcohol and are seemingly giving the slaves a taste of freedom, finery and of that which is seen as one of the “benefits” of liberty. It is in this way, according to Douglass, that slaves became more docile in their attempts for freedom because they became more convinced of the awfulness of independence and choice. Douglass states: “We felt, and very properly too, that we had almost as well be slaves to man as to rum.”(2073) It is “Thus, when the slave asks for virtuous freedom, the cunning slaveholder […] cheats him with a dose of vicious dissipation [which] the most of us used to drink […] down”.
This was the unfortunate truth; that slaves were so misguided and so profoundly disillusioned by what they were tricked into thinking was freedom. To make matters worse, Douglass argues, slaves were also, by human nature, misguided to believe “their own better than that of others.”(2048) Douglass explains that while some slaves do have it better than others, all convince themselves that their particular situation is among the best, if not the very best. Even with cruel masters, “Many, under the influence of this prejudice, think their own masters better than the masters of other slaves”(2048) In this way, supposedly, the slaves are constantly fighting to convince others (and most probably themselves as well) that “the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves”(2048) and that without their masters, they are nothing. In cruel situations as was the common case slaves instead turned to this transference principal to validate themselves and their worth. “It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man’s slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!”(2048)
Slaves were constantly, so it seemed, fighting with, fighting for and fighting against themselves on the issue of freedom. It seemed to be commonly held among slaves that validating their placidity with enslavement was both a necessity and a curse. Freedom, it appeared, was either an illusionary and abstract concept, was the poorer state of existence, or was something which was to be the demise of them. And the slaves believed this. The trickery of the masters seemed to work so well as to placate the slaves and keep them working.
So with his narrative, as well as so many other works, Fredrick Douglass became simultaneously the authority on such matters as the slave mentality and he became the champion to slaves everywhere, offering hope and promise of a better life and way. His was a glimmer of possibility that any slave, common like himself might break free of the mentality shoved upon him, might break free of his bonds, and may rise to a position of affluence and authority. But until then it was downright a sin that slaves were placated in such a way as to believe it:
“So, when the holidays ended, we staggered up from the filth of our wallowing, took a long breath, and marched to the field, -- feeling, upon the whole, rather glad to go, from what our master had deceived us into a belief was freedom, back to the arms of slavery.”(2073)
posted by Shannon Hollender @ 9:22 AM
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