Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Acceptance Essays Escaping the Chains of Slavery Escaping the Chains of Slavery In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass writes about his life in slavery. Douglass portrays how he overcame being separated from his mother, of witnessing a slave being whipped for the first time and enduring his servitude for multiple masters. However, his major triumphs in life were moving to Baltimore, overcoming illiteracy and gaining his freedom. Douglass was between the age of seven or eight when he was sent to live in Baltimore, a move that would forever change his life. He was introduced to a different way of living for a slave. For example, on the plantation slaves were subject to merciless beatings, hunger, and cold. Clothing was provided, but if slaves did not sustain them throughout the year, they were forced to walk around half-naked. However, in Baltimore slaves were permitted to walk in the street as free men and women; they were properly dressed and well fed. Furthermore, it was considered an embarrassment to the slaveholder if their neighbors noticed they were not feeding their slaves adequately. Baltimore was of great importance since this is where he was sent to live with his new mistress, who forever changed his life. At the beginning of his stay in Baltimore, his new mistress, Sophia Auld teaches Douglass his A, B, C's. However, when her husband find out what was going on, he put a stop to it. Mr. Auld said, "If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever be unfit for him to be a slave." Douglass discovered learning to read and write was a pathway to freedom. To further his reading and writing abilities, he had to resort to a number of different methods. For instance, he would give bread to poor boys in his neighborhood in exchange for reading lessons. Taking his book with him when sent on errands, he would quickly finish his errands and would use the remaining time for lessons and reading the newspaper. Second, in order to achieve writing skills he observed how the carpenters in the shipyard wrote. For example, if a piece of wood were meant for the larboard side they would write thus--L. Furthermore, when he encountered any boy that could write he would trick them by stating he could write better than they could and using the letters that he learned in the shipyard he would tell them to beat that. He would carefully observe what they wrote and every chance he got; he practiced on the walls, pavement and wooden fences with chalk. In addition, his master's son, Thomas, brought home copybooks from school, Douglass would write over what Thomas wrote. Within a couple of years Douglass was able to read and write. Finally, in 1835 Douglass made his first attempt to obtain freedom while living with Master Freeland. He did not wish to achieve freedom alone, therefore, he approached slaves that lived in the house, and they all agreed to escape together. However, the authorities and his master foiled this attempt because someone betrayed them. This setback did not stop Douglass; he was still determined to obtain freedom. Finally, after a long period of time passed, Douglass made the decision to escape on the third day of September, 1838. This time he succeeded in breaking from the chains of slavery. How he escaped will forever remain a secret, for revealing this would had prevented other slaves from escaping his or her chains. In summary, Douglass' move to Baltimore opened his eyes to the way city slaves were treated differently from the ones on the plantation. Meeting his Mistress Sophia, which paved a road for him to overcome his literacy, was of great importance in leading to his determination to obtain freedom in which he succeeded. Bibliography: Word Count: 641
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