The Basic Evils of Slavery in Narrative of the Life by Frederick Douglass :: American History, Racial Relations, Slavery

Slavery, as described by Frederick Douglass in Narrative of the Life, is wrong because it withholds a graciouss canonic desire for knowledge. People, regardless of race, have the right to Life, Liberty and bliss and at bottom that is the quest for knowledge and when this is hindered, a human is thrown into a realm of mental darkness in which they become subhuman. Through this state, a human is molded into a mindless slave capable of no thoughts opposite than to serve his master. Refusing the right of knowledge and the pursuit of it is inherently wrong as stated by the Declaration of Independence. In this important historical put down it is said that, all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of gratification (US 1776). All men implies men of color as well as white men. Slaves, therefore, have the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. In the pursuit of Ha ppiness there is the natural inclination towards education, which, in the insane system that is slavery, is subdue by the slave owner to ensure a more dehumanise slave. Douglass, at a very young age, begins to realize the relationship amid the master and slave is instinctively in conflict and opposition because, What he dreaded, I most desired. What he loved, that I most hated (Douglass 945). When Mrs. old starts to teach him to read, he starts to reason that slavery itself is wrong. When Mr. Auld finds out and attempts to impede this intellectual growth, Douglass states how, the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, just now served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn (Douglass 945). Mr. Aulds plan had backfired. From this moment on Douglass, understood the pathway from slavery to immunity (Douglass 945) depended on him learning to read. But, Mr. Auld warns him from the start that if he learned to read, it would occupy him discont ented and unhappy (Douglass 945). The ability to read would be a foul part of him achieving freedom, but since Mrs. Auld was forced to stop teaching him his A, B, Cs by her husband, he has to be creative in decision ways to learn how to read. He adopts a plan in which he is, making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street.