For example, Mr. Gore, who took Mr. Hopkins place was very cruel and would not take any sort of talking back. He would not communicate with any of the slaves except for giving orders and beating them. “He was, in a word, a man of the most inflexible firmness and stone-like coolness” (p. 13). There were also those white people who encouraged black people to escape, and them catch them to receive rewards. Slaves could not catch any breaks.On the other hand, there were some good whites. Douglas wanted to learn how to read, so he made friends with some little white boys on the street. Douglas spoke of running errands, and stopping in with the white children to learn to read in his spare time. As a symbol of his gratitude, Douglas would give the children bread to eat. They, in fact, had a discussion about slavery at one point. He told the children, “You’ll be free as soon as you’re twenty-one, but I’m a slave for life! Have I not as good a right to be free as you have?” (p. 22). He recalled that this troubled them, but they still showed much sympathy towards him. The presence of sympathetic white people gave him hope that one day he would be free.At last, Douglas moved to New York when it became a free state. His hopes of being free finally came true. This, however, did not mean that the racism had ended. Whites acted as if blacks were threats to their jobs. This is because of the skills they had learned during slavery. This was a fantastic narrative that I would recommend to anyone who wants to be uplifted. His pursuits in life showed how much of a leader he really was. This narrative really made his leadership qualities shine as he fought for his freedom. Along with learning many leadership qualities, this narrative also expanded my knowledge on slavery. It was really uplifting. ...
