Slavery has been present in society throughout history. Since the beginning of time slaves have been dehumanized and treated as property. Owners used the slave's ignorance as a tool against them to convince them that they would be unhappy with freedom and therefore should be content with their current lifestyles. However, some slave became self-educated, like Fredrick Douglass, and realized that there was something better than slavery for them. In Chapter Ten, Fredrick Douglass realized that if he wanted to change his lifestyle, he would have to take the situation into his own hands.
As Chapter Ten opens, Fredrick Douglass is about the age of sixteen when he is sent to Mr. Covey, a renowned "Negro breaker" in January of 1833. Covey is unlike any other master Douglass has had in the past. He often works in the fields with the slaves, and sneaks up on them to make sure they do not put out less effort when he is not around. The first six months were the hardest times Douglass ever spent as a slave. Work, exhaustion, and Covey's frequent severe punishments deadened him. Douglass soon lost his spirit, desire to learn, and his natural optimistic outlook on life. One Sunday Douglass ventured down to Chesapeake Bay. Douglas realized the freedom the ships had and called out to them, "You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave!"(38). After the encounter with the ships Douglass" mind set has once changed again, this time back to wanting to reach freedom and the realization that the ocean is his pathway there. .
In August of 1833, something happened that had never happened to Douglass before. He collapsed from fatigue while working in the fields. When Mr. Covey found Douglass, he beat him with a plank until Douglass had blood pouring from his head. Douglass decides to walk to Auld's to complain about Covey, but Auld will hear nothing of it and sends Douglass back to Covey's.
