Survival of the Fittest: A Run to Freedom.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave was written by Frederick Douglass himself. He was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland. He had, " no accurate knowledge of [his] age, never having seen any authentic record containing it" (20). Frederick Douglass grew up as a slave, experiencing all of the requisite hardships, such as whippings, inadequate meals, and other harsh treatment. His thirst for freedom, and his burning hatred of slavery caused him to write this autobiography. Douglass wanted to show how bad slavery really was. He made many people understand what was not clearly visible because of the white Americans who long before had rationalized slavery as no more than a disagreeable but inevitable necessity, best ignored. Douglass recorded his life, and in doing so, documented the reality of slavery. Frederick Douglass challenged the standard arguments of slavery.
Douglass undermines the common argument that southern whites, who live and work among the blacks, know their "servants" (or simply their "people") intimately, and thus have for them a deep affection which the ignorant Northerners simply could not begin to comprehend. Douglass explains that the impoverished lifestyle, mistreatment, and conditions of bondage were all intended as intentional mistreatment to slaves by their slave owners. The intention of the slaveholder was to dehumanize the slaves. The hope of slave owners was to prevent the slaves from becoming restless, disobedient, rebellious, or wanting more in life, such as freedom. The slaves were worth money and prosperity for the slave owners. Thus, they did not want slaves to become discontented and a threat to the production and income of the plantation. The slave owner's method to maintain contentedness was to keep the slave thoughtless. As Douglass writes, "to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one" (102).
