“The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” and “Discourse on the logic of language” are both very compelling pieces on the topic of slavery that touch upon some of the pain involved in slavery. The poem “Discourse…” focuses on the strife and friction caused by the conflicts of language, Fredrick Douglass compliments the poem and adds context to that strife.

“Discourse on the logic of language” repeats often the difference between a mother tongue and a father tongue, a father tongue is a foreign tongue, a foreign anguish, whereas a mother tongue is a native tongue. “English is my father tongue…  English is my mother tongue…” there is a contradiction made and repeated throughout the poem that English is both their native tongue, a foreign language, and their anguish.  The poem also talks at length about brief interactions between a new born child and her mother, about a desperate attempt to give to her the language of her mother, her breath, her tongue.

Frederick Douglass and his narrative compliment this poem and fill in the blanks very well, giving us an insight into the lives of slaves and their views on language and the anguish of their lives. The anguish that brought them to these foreign lands that they call home, that breaks the bonds between a daughter and mother, between a son and his mother. Such that Fredrick Douglass even writes “…received tidings of her death (his mother’s) with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” In the next paragraph he talks about how his father is unknown to him, but that it was said to be his master. A white man, a foreign man. “…such slaves invariably suffer greater hardships…” their father enforcing the cruelties pushed onto them and their masters wife being one who inflicts her disdain onto them as well.

This process and situation existed intentionally, serving as a means of making rebellions more difficult, and as a means to further dehumanize the slaves. To the white men controlling the situation, the less human the slaves are the easier it is for them to justify slavery. That attempt to justify slavery, to dehumanize slaves, is perhaps the greatest sin, the most damaging one at least to everyone, everyone. It dehumanized everyone.