Douglass's Narrative

The genre is a crafted autobiography.  Slave narratives in particular were quite common, as there were over 100 book-length narratives.  This genre has elements of literature and factual reporting.  In American in particular, there is a tradition of personal narratives, starting with early Puritans who viewed themselves as God's elect.  Narratives are related to Enlightenment themes of individualism and autonomy and the opportunity for new creativity in America as a frontier.

Abolitionist movements go back to 1775 in the United States.  William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society, which ran The Liberator, a newspaper.  Garrison advocated immediate emancipation, decried the Constitution as a pro-slavery document and believed in pacifism.  Garrison does, however, use the language of the Declaration of Independence.

As an orator, Douglass is filled with sympathy because he was a slave himself.  He gave hundreds of speeches between 1839 and 1845.  As a fugitive slave, he was both a victim and a victor, which helped to represent black Americans as complex, noble and intellectual.  Because he was such an accomplished orator, people assumed that he was not a slave, so there was pressure for him to reveal details about his life.  Further pressure to reveal information about his life came from the desire to use former slaves as living evidence of slavery.   However, fugitive slaves were put in danger if the details about their owners became public knowledge.

Rhetorical challenges of the slave narrative include the question of representation, the challenge of moving beyond mere spectacle and the integration of argumentation and personal narrative.  Rhetoricians in the 19th century used a dramatic ethos to encourage critical analysis of issues and therefore support more formal arguments.

Douglass's story comes "packaged" in a "white envelope", meaning that white Americans authenticated his story and bolstered his credibility.  What tension might there be between Douglass's own credibility and such attempts by white folks?

The structure of the narrative is like a dramatic story.  We begin with rising action including a childhood in slavery and many trials and tribulations.  Then he is sent to Baltimore and decides to free himself.  Then he is taught to read and write, a pursuit which is interrupted and then pursued with vigor, as he saw it as his path to freedom.  After setbacks by being sent back to the plantation, where Master Thomas owns him, he has a descent into hell.  He is sent to a slave-breaker, he begs God to save him and he fights Covey, the slave-breaker.  In the last chapter, he makes an aborted attempt to escape before finally succeeding.  

There is a question about whether or not Douglass tells his story from an impulse to share or whether he is motivated by external pressure.  Another tension, another question--perhaps, is whether the narrator identifies as writing from inside slavery or from an external perspective.  His discussion of slave songs seem to indicate that he is outside of this experience.  How might night help a white reader (especially a Northerner) to relate to his story?  Douglass himself indicates on page 54 that withholding details can encourage wisdom.  He himself is either unwilling or unable to express all the details of his story, particularly the emotional experiences he had.

Another important part of the narrative is Douglass's discussion of his development into a public intellectual as a method of gaining freedom.  Having been taught to read by Sophie Auld, he found that literacy would be key to his eventual freedom.  He also began to informally teach and guide young black boys in his community.  One question is whether his striving and thriving can be read as sympathetic with the struggle of black women.