The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: The Formation of Ident

The tale of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave details the cash advance of a striver to a man, and thus, the formation of his indistinguishability. The narrative functions as a persuasive essay, written in the hopes that it would successfully lead to hastening the glad solar day of deliverance to the millions of his brethren in bonds (Douglass 331). As an foundation, slavery endeavored to reduce the men, women, and children in bonds to a state less than adult male. The slave individualism, according to the institution of slavery, was not to be that of a rational, self forming, equal human being, but rather, a human animal whose purpose is to work and obey the whims of their master. For these reasons, Douglass articulates a distinction amidst the harm man and slaves under the institution of slavery. In his narrative, Douglass describes the situations and conditions that portray the differences in the midst of the two terms. Douglass also depicts the progression he makes from internalizing the slaveholder viewpoints about what his identity should be to creating an identity of his own making. Thus, Douglass narrative depicts not simply a search for freedom, but also a search for himself by dint of the forsaking of the slave/animal identity forced upon him by the institution of slavery.The reader is first introduced to the idea of Douglasss formation of identity outside the constraints of slavery before he or she even begins reading the narrative. By viewing the title page and reading the words The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself the reader sees the advancement Douglass made from a helpless slave to an independent author (Stone 134). As a slave, he was command a voice with which he might speak out against slavery. Furthermore, the tralatitious roles of slavery would have had him uneducatedunable to read and incapable of writing. However, by examining the full meaning of the title page , the reader is introduced to Douglasss refusal to adhere to the slave role of uneducated and voiceless. Thus, even before reading the work, the reader knows that Douglass will show how a slave was made a man through speaking outthe symbolic act of self-definition (Stone 135).In the first chapter of the narrative, Douglass introduces the proportion between slaves and animals, writing that the larger... ...details the transformation of a slave to a man. The institution of slavery defined a slave as less than human, and in order to perpetuate that impression, slaveholders forbade slaves the luxury of self definition. Therefore, when Douglass finally rejects the notions about his identity forced on him by slavery, and embraces an identity of his own creation, he has accomplished his journey from slave to man. He no longer defines himself in terms of the institution of slavery, but by his own thoughts regarding what his identity is. Through the transfiguration of his identity as an animal to an author who fights for the abolitionist movement, Douglass presents his narrative not simply as a search for freedom, but also a search for himself.It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass Works CitedDouglass, Frederick. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. sore York Penguin Group, 1987. Stone, Albert. Identity and Art in Frederick Douglasss Narrative. Twentieth-Century Literary reproof Volume 7. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1990. 134-137.