“I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise, unless a slave has special permission from his or her master to the contrary — a permission which they seldom get, and one that gives to him that gives it the proud name of being a kind master. I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between us. Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardships and suffering. She died when I was about seven years old, on one of my master’s farms, near Lee’s Mill. I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew anything about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.”
This passage hits deep in my heart. The author Frederick Douglass was separated from his mother since he was an infant. It was the slave owner’s intention to break the bond between a mother and a son. However, despite the difficulties of visiting her child, Douglass’s mother committed to walk twelve miles to be with her son. Douglass recalls his only times with his mother, quoting “I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between us.” (Douglass 237) Douglass’s mother shows preserving love for her child, risking her own life to take care of Douglass. The maternal affection of a mom for her child is manifested through the hardship of being a slave, though very little communication occurred. It indicates how dehumanizing the slavery was to attempt to destroy the natural affection between the bloodlines. The slave owners were callous to empathize their slaves’ emotions and acknowledge them as human rather than properties. When Douglass’s mother passed away, Douglass had not yet developed the capacity of understanding love nor the sadness of losing his mother. He says, “I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” (Douglass 237) He was numbed by the long absence from his mother’s nurture. When she died, Douglass showed little emotion. His malformed affection towards his mother caused by slavery is very sad. Additionally, Douglass reveals that he wrote a lot of parts of the essay by using his imagination. It is easy to tell from his diction such as “soothing”, “tender”, “watchful.” He was not able to understand his mother’s love for him at the time, but still tried to depict her affection for him through idealization. It makes readers extremely sympathetic to read about his life.
Ryan, I agree that this is a particularly heartbreaking detail from Douglass’ childhood. Psychologists now understand how critical the stable presence of a loving adult is to the development of a healthy sense of self in a child. It is hard to imagine what happens when the institution of slavery is set up in a way that makes it almost impossible for parents to provide this kind of security to their children.