Perspective (Douglass Ch.1 & 2)

      Our thoughts and emotions of a situation change when our point of view changes. Usually when we learn of miserable events in textbooks we distance ourselves from the victims and feel only a little sympathy. We think to ourselves: “oh, how sad” then we move on and forget about it.  However, in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave we experience this sickening issue through a genuine primary source, therefore exponentiating our feelings.

      As the audience, we place ourselves in Frederick´s shoes and imagine ourselves as slaves. I can´t imagine how I would feel if I did not know my father or my age. It is like not having a sense of identity and thus feeling worthless. If my mother died I would cry uncontrollably, yet Douglass feels no emotion because he was unattached and forced apart from her. He is also obligated to see his aunt whipped until blood would flow nonstop. Douglass truly conveys this feeling of vulnerability and hopelessness. It just makes me want to go back in time and wipe out all the cold-blooded and barbaric slave owners in an even more ruthless manner than the way they treated the slaves.