I found the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” Frederick Douglas’s autobiography of his life as a slave, extremely informative in that it was accurate account of the trials and tribulations of a slave. It was interesting to see the various subject matters Douglas focuses on. In retelling his story he spotlights some of the most serious problems during the time in everything from his craving for freedom and education to the mistreatment of women. Additionally, he shows the importance the slave owners put on the suppression of slave knowledge. His wanting for freedom is enabled by his education, and he partly attributes his eventual escape to his learnedness and background. One thing I noticed was the glaring connection between the way the slave owners kept the slaves contained and Douglas’s eventual escape to freedom. The slave owners contained the slaves by keeping them uneducated. They refused to let them learn to read or write so that they wouldn’t be able to become educated. We clearly see this when Sophia Auld started to teach Douglas to read and write until her husband vehemently opposed her. He explains that the reason the slaves are so docile is because they are uneducated. Later on in his life, Douglas realizes that the reason for his escape was his education, and determines the way to achieve eventual freedom is to educate. I feel Douglas wrote his autobiography for this reason, in order to educate America on the hardships of slaves. His works were highly influential and responsible for abolitionist movements across America.

The biggest surprsie in the film is that the role of woman does not change, even across countries. The film Birth of a Nation shows a slave named Esther who was raped and has all of her emotions communicated through facial expressions.  She has no lines dialogue in the film. It also happened in Asia a lot in the past, or even in some rural areas today. A long time ago, men considered women as their possession and not as humans. A man chose a woman when they married and a woman had to be silent, even if their husband had affairs with other women. Polygamy is also still acceptable in some countries now. I believe women have been suppressed and unfairly discriminated against within many fields of society. For example the glass ceiling  barrier that prevents women from reaching the executive suite. I question that there are many films and histories regarding racism and freedom where men were running things. But what about women’s rights or the things that women were or are running? There are tons of unbelievable and unacceptable discrimination against women, some of which protect violence and female genital mutilation all over the world.

I was really shocked by the scene where one of the masters called Mr. Severe whips a woman and it causes the blood to run for half an hour at the time from the Douglass autobiography. I cannot even imagine this scene and believe it actually happened at that time. Birth of a Nation and Douglass’s autobiography strongly show how weak women were during that time and how cruel human beings can be as well.

The New York Times article How ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Silences Black Women exploits the absence of the perspective and narratives of female slaves. Although slavery was a horrid time for all black Americans, women undoubtedly had to deal with much worse conditions than men. While a racial construct separated black people from white people, gender constructs separated males from females. Gender stratification made women powerless compared to men and therefore easily susceptible to beatings and often rape by white slave owners. Although in Douglas’ narrative there weren’t really any female slave characters, he portrayed several vidid and horrific scenes of female slaves such as the beating of his aunt Hester in the very first chapter. Douglas stated he felt so traumatized that he himself felt as if he was the victim.   While rape among female slaves was quite common, it is often ignored today when covering this time period. As stated in the New York Times article,  in The Birth of a Nation while there are depictions of women being raped, the viewer does not see the female narrative but rather the tole it has on Nat Turner.  Similarly in the Douglas autobiography, there are scenes with women being raped but we only see how it affects Frederick Douglas. As views or readers, we really don’t get an accurate portrayal of how female slaves coped with these hardships. The conclusion I’ve drawn from the article is that it is hard for us as a society to anknowlge that the reoccurring rape among female slaves was at one point reality, therefore directors and authors often times find it easier to avoid it.

It is clear from both the film “The Birth of a Nation,” as well as Frederick Douglas’ autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” that the abuse and mistreatment of women of color during those times was overshadowed by the accomplishments and acts of  the men. In the film, although the primary motive behind Nat Turners rebellion was the mistreatment of women, Salamisha Tillet explains that, “the women themselves are doubly marginalized.” The film is focused much more on Turners brave rebellion than the victimization and abuse on the women. They play a minuscule role in the main storyline and are depicted as helpless victims silenced by the abuse. Similar to the film, the novel also portrays women of color as powerless sufferers unable to respond to their continuous abuses. Douglas rarely talks about the abuse, and when he does, it is not completely noteworthy. He describes his aunts traumatic abuse by her owner, however she is not a complete character in the story. Her, as well Henrietta, Mary, and Henny, are really only used to highlight the fact of abuse of white slave owners rather than play an actual role in the story. From the criticism of the film we can see that this is a common portrayal of colored women in the south. They should not only be looked upon as figures of mistreatment, but also as characters with expressions, roles, and influences. Unequivocally, women of color are not being recognized enough for the important roles they’ve played in history – not just as victims of abuse.

Salamishaj Tillet, the author of the NYT article on The Birth of a Nation, makes very strong claims about women’s rights which can be applied to Fredrick Douglass’ Narrative, allowing us to examine the story with a different mindset. Tillet’s claim about women’s issues being marginalized twice is certainly no understatement. The very foundation for Turner’s rebellion and thus The Birth of a Nation was rape, and for the film to not be centered around that is a slap in the face of those victimized, or those who experienced firsthand the horrors of rape. In the very beginning of Douglass’ Narrative, he tells us of his lineage, ensuring to include that he is the son of a white man. Immediately following this is his description of the norm at the time, which was for slaveowners to rape their slaves in an attempt to increase their slave population. These “common practices” were made front and center in the very beginning of Douglass’ narrative as a way of bringing attention to the injustice, a stark contrast to The Birth of a Nation which leaves victims of rape in silence. I found Tillet’s example of Esther’s rape speaks volumes to this point, and i wholeheartedly agree with her when she considers it to be retrograde to not allow her to speak. Fredrick Douglass’ Narrative and The Birth of a Nation run deep contrasts in the way the issue of rape is presented.

In the novel and the film, women of color are depicted as helpless and the sole victims of abuse. We never see women defending themselves like we get to witness with male characters. However, men of color are affected by the pain of women of color and act upon it while the women remain silenced. The article makes clear that in the film, although the beating and raping of women of color caused Turner’s initial attack, women were not shown to be a part of the physical rebellion. Although the mistreatment of women is acknowledged, the focus is mainly on how men of color are affected by it. When Turner’s wife is raped he uses this as reasoning for his rebellion, thus speaking for her since she couldn’t. Another female slave by the name of Ester was raped and remained silent throughout the film. On page 4 of the article, they state for the men “we see … their transformation into men emboldened enough to fully defy their master”.

In the novel, readers hear more about abuse being inflicted on women of color than men, but when it came time for Frederick to fully rebel, by making a plan to flee slavery, he only asked men to join him on his journey. Douglass mentions his aunts beating, which was his first time witnessing the horrors of slavery, and a slave by the name of “Henny”, who was beaten every day for the master’s satisfaction. Women of color had no voice or power, not even in expressing how they feel and what they may do to be a part of their liberation.

Gregor Samsa wakes up one day realizes that he has gone through an extreme transformation. He has gone from a human male, to a disgusting pest. This does not go well at all with his family. At first when Gregor does not leave the house for work, this family believes that Gregor is just being lazy and irresponsible again. But when he exits his room for the first time as a vermin, the family completely freaks out. Even though Gregor was still their son, they had no respect for him at all. This can be an allegory that symbolizes the way Gregor actually felt in his everyday life, prior to being a disgusting bug. Gregor was not doing great financially, he was depressed and his family never treated him with dignity or admiration. After a while, being treated in such horrific manners can lead to depression and hating life as a whole. This is what Gregor felt, and that was what the bug represented. He felt like he was being treated as some nauseating, and sickening bug and it was hard for him to handle. His own father was trying to chase him and injure him, his mother fainted almost every time she saw him and his little sister who at first cared for him eventually wanted him out of the house. After all this hatred, tension and depression, Gregor did not see meaning to life. He did not enjoy any moment, and the vermin he transformed to, is what he felt like as he lived through life.

I found Douglass’s work to me extremely informative and revealing. It gave us certain details of a slaves’ way of living and made the reader view life through the eyes of an actual slave, Frederick Douglass. Through Douglass’s words, he exposes the moments of realization he had endured throughout his life that changed his way of thought and actions. Such realizations include the moment he realizes he would rather die than be treated as a slave. Another major and crucial insight is when he understands that a key reason to why whites were successful in making humans of black color their slaves was the power of education. The blacks were completely uneducated, giving them no power and no voice. This is extremely important to Douglass, and he realizes he must try to absorb as much knowledge when the opportunities arise. He manages to learn to read and write a bit from newspapers, and other young white kids. I concur with Douglass in that education was a key component in abolishing slavery forever. Frederik Douglass lived a tough life. He never knew or met his father, saw his mother only a couple of times, and lived through beatings, hunger and injustice. He could not stand witnessing his race being exploited, raped, tortured and abused. He was willing to give up his life in the fight for equality. His novel was like a roller coaster. There were some ups and downs, but at the end of the novel we see that he has achieved his goal, freedom.

Frederick Douglass mentions in a couple of places throughout his novel about the abuse and victimization of black women. In the beginning of the novel, Douglass describes the beating of his dear Aunt Hester. He depicts that they had stripped her of her clothing, then beat her with anger and blood throughout the scene. The article written in the New York Times states that the suffering of women, especially being raped in inhumane ways are sometimes disregarded. The articles specifically talk’s about the film, “The Birth of a Nation.” The film portrays women of color as helpless and voiceless (literally). Esther, a black character in the film, was raped and did not get to say a word in the film. Rather, she had to express her destitute emotions through facial expressions, solely. Women slaves arguably went through the worst of the suffering during the era. They were beaten, raped and brutalized repeatedly. They were forced to have sexual relations with slave owners, and carry their children (only to be sold for a profit and beaten). Douglass speaks about women that were abused throughout his narrative. Instances such as the whipping of his Aunt Hester, when his grandmother had to watch her children and grandchildren being sold like animals, or when he witnessed women being raped by men in order for Covey (slave master) to make money, all gave Frederick Douglass an extra push to fight for his freedom and the freedom of his race.

In the very beginning of Fredrick Douglass’ narrative, Douglas speaks about the abuse and torture that women slaves were subjected to. The image of his aunt being beaten relentlessly was an image that Douglass was unable to forget. The horror and unjusifiable act of slavery is often discussed about. Man and slavery is also discussed, however women and their encounter with the horrors of slavery is often overlooked as the article discusses. The article by New York Times discusses how the new film “The Birth of a New Nation” depicts the helplessness of women slaves in their postiitons. Women often experienced the worst  imaginable torture under slave owners. They were beaten and raped savagely and couldnt voice their pain and troubles. Fredrick Douglass describes these conditions in graphic    detail. The article discusses a character named Esther in the movie who rarely speaks. She represents the population of slave women who just like her are unable to act or speak out. They cannot do so. They were forbidden to do things, yet such horrendous acts were committed upon them. Douglass watched his aunt being beat merclessly without being able to do anything even though she was his aunt. Even when Esther cries into her husbands arms, he probably was not able to do much for her as well. Women who were slaves experienced unimaginable violence and abuse. They were beaten and raped horrendously and even those around them, relatives and family looked on helplessly. However, perhaps the violence Douglass was subject to and the conditions he saw especially with women contributed to his determination to speak up and become a leader in the abolition movement