Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Throughout history the use of language and rhetoric as a facilitator of power, and subsequently oppression, has proven to be an effective and useful tool. The penetrating power of words has the ability to construct and reinforce the notions of superiority and inferiority, power and oppression, hope and despair, through the most common form of communication available-language. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass these very notions are constructed, reinforced, and made manifest through the dichotomous rhetoric of both slave owner and slave. Through his narrative, Frederick Douglass provides several accounts of the oppressive nature of the slave owner's rhetoric, reinforced by the language of Christianity. Douglass, in turn, takes a hold of this language not natively his own, and uses it to empower his mind and ultimately undo his fate. Through this reversal of the oppressive powers of language, a metaphor can be drawn between the utilization of violence and language as a means oppression and empowerment. Douglass grasps on to both of these tools and fuses them together to instill within himself a burning sense of rage and want of freedom.

The rhetoric of the slave owner relied heavily on the preconceived notion that slaves were not in fact human beings, but instead "mere chattel". In order for a slave owner to uphold his position as master, he had to verbally reinforce the slave's position as possession, otherwise insurrection and disobedience were to follow. In order to trivialize the life and worth of a slave, dehumanizing words and sayings about them were common among white people. Douglass writes that the phrase, "it's worth a half-cent to kill a nigger and a half cent to bury one" was common even among "little white boys"(2011). White men often used this phrase to justify the murders of slaves, as their deaths were cheaper than their maintenance. Through Douglass's experience he found that rationalization behind slavery and the rhetoric of the slave owner was based in the rhetoric of Christianity. He writes:
I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, -a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, -a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds…Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to the enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity to befall me. For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst (2035).

The language of religion in the south provided the slave owners with the self-rightcheousness they needed to so brutally enforce their tactics; for it was taught in their scriptures that "God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right"(2002). Justification for not only racism, but violent cruelty as well can be found in Christian scriptures. Douglass writes of one such example of religious justification: "I have seen him [his master] tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cow skin upon her naked shoulders… and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote the passage of Scripture-'He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes'"(2025). With authority coming from religion, and therefore God, the rightness of the white slave owner's cruelty towards their slaves was irrefutable in their minds. Their own rhetoric was simply to apply and enforce these religious sentiments to their own lives and benefit.

The language of the slave involved a new set of preconceptions, differing vastly from that of the white slave owners. First of all, the slave was constantly receiving demoralizing abuses, both physically and verbally, that placed them in a state of submission. Therefore in dealings with white people the maxim was established that, "a still tongue makes a wise head. They [slaves] suppress the truth rather than take the consequence of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family. If they have anything to say to their masters, it is generally in their masters' favor" (2008). Through this oppression of the slaves' words a mode of language arose understood only by other slaves. An example of this would be the songs slaves would sing while working in the fields. Douglass writes:
They would compose and sing as they went along, consulting neither time nor tune…They would sing, as a chorus, to words which to many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which nevertheless, were full of meaning to themselves. I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject. (2006)

The evidence that these songs, that this language of slavery, was only truly comprehended by the slaves themselves lies in the fact that many white people believed these songs to be a testament to the happiness and contentment of the slaves in the south. Although slaves were afforded the ability to understand the spoken form of language, as it was a necessity for giving orders, they were altogether denied of the understanding of the written expression of communication. It was strictly forbidden to teach a slave to read or write, as was found out by Frederick Douglass when one of his mistresses' attempted to teach him the alphabet. The power that resides in the ability to read and write was obviously apparent to white slave owners; for as Mr. Auld said, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master…learning would spoil the best nigger in the world…if you teach the nigger how to read there would be no keeping him…it would make him discontented and unhappy" (2014). With these words Douglass realizes the fact that of "-to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man" (2015).

With the realization that ignorance is the driving force behind his enslavement Douglass uncovers within himself the hunger to learn to read and to be educated of the true depravity of slavery. In reading Douglass discovered that he had a voice, that the words, "gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery and powerful vindication of human rights…The more I read the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers"(2017). This freedom he found within his mind only furthered in him the curiosity of learning how to write, and with these abilities in language the veil of ignorance was lifted. His hatred of his servitude grew and eventually the only way which Douglass could reconcile not killing himself were through the intent to one day escape (2018). Douglass, therefore, learned the language of his oppressors and utilized it to facilitate his own empowerment and subjugate his oppression.

In the way language was used to oppress and dehumanize slaves, so was violence. In fact, they were often used in conjunction to reinforce the power of the slave owner. One such slave owner's language, Mr. Severe, was closely associated with his cruelty and violent behavior. Douglass writes that, " he was a profane swearer…from the rising till the going down of the sun, he was cursing, raving, cutting, and slashing among the slaves of the field"(2005). To Douglass and the other slaves a correlation must have been drawn between the baseness of his language and the baseness of his humanity, that is why Douglass refuses to write out any swear word in full because he will not lower himself to that level which he so despises. In fact, Mr. Severe's name was also an indicator of his actions, another correlation between the language or words of oppression and the violence of it. Another master of Douglass, Mr.Gore, also had a strong correlation between the language of his name and the manifestation of that in his actions. He often whipped his slaves until they were open and bleeding, or simply gory. Just as Douglass reclaimed the slave owners' language to empower him and free his mind, so did he reclaim the slave owners' violence to free himself from the physical abuses of slavery. When Douglass was under the control of Mr.Covey his hatred of slavery was hitting its pinnacle. With his mind aware of slaveries injustices, his body was too becoming aware and intolerant of its abuses. As his mind was already in revolt his body followed suit and violently insurrected against Mr.Covey at the threat of another whipping.

He fought and won, never receiving another abuse from this master again. This violent uprising gave him the same feelings and want of freedom as when he first learned to read. Douglass exclaims, "This battle with Mr.Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood"(2032). Once again, by turning the oppressive forces of his oppressors against themselves, pushed Douglass to seek a fate beyond that of his shackled existence.

Douglass's ability to empower himself arose from his utilization of the forces of both language and violence. However, his true power came from capturing the tools of his oppression and making his own fate. The ability to read and write could not alone escape Douglass from slavery; neither could a violent insurrection against a master. Both of these acts would normally lead to a punishment that would have crushed Douglass's spirit, if not killed him. It was his refusal to give up hope and accept the institution of slavery and his role in it that gave him the strength and courage he so dearly needed to cross into the free states and begin his life of activism as a fugitive slave.