Great Works of Literature II

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was an emotional, depressing, and moving piece. From the pages that were assigned, I felt beyond sympathy for slaves. I was humbled by the description of the treatment of the slaves, especially the separation of mother and child. “I never saw my mother, to know her as much, more than four or five times in my life” (page 923).  Most of us are fortunate enough to have a mother in our life and sometimes, I know I do, wish they weren’t in our life. I believe we take for granted what we do have, even something as small as freedom.

What really caught my attention, was that the slaves discriminated amongst themselves. “When Colonel Lloyd’s slaves met the slaves of Jacob Jepson, they seldom parted without a quarrel about their masters” (page 931). Even in the situation that the slaves are in, they still find a way to discriminate against each other, according to their masters. This usually happens in society now, instead of people of the same race bonding together, there’s usually discrimination in the race itself. Like in my family, they are Dominican and light skinned, but in their own family they have dark skinned members. They still always argue because of their differences, whether it be color of skin, where they live, or how they act, they still discriminate against each other, instead of coming together and being a family. Now-a-days people have gotten too spoiled, and they act too comfortable. This narrative helps humble people back down to appreciate what they do have in life, and that no matter how big our problems may be, there’s still positive things to live for. If we think on the hardships of Frederick Douglass, we can be thankful for what we have. There’s been recent suicides due to invasion of privacy and hate acts, but if Frederick Douglass could live his life through, so can all of us. LOVE IS LOUDER THAN DISCRIMINATION!