Frederick Douglass Narrative

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass. The book explains the many twists and turns that occurred in Douglass’s life. The book begins with a timeline of major events from Douglass’s life. In chapter one, Frederick Douglass tells about the very early events in his life. He was born in 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. He then says that he has no accurate account for his age because he has never seen the authentic records that possess it. The only evidence of his age came from the mouth of his owner in 1835, when his owner said that Douglass was somewhere around twenty seven or twenty eight years of age (Douglass 17). Douglass then goes on to talk about his family life. He says …show more content…
Not long after moving to Baltimore to work for the Aurd family, Richard, the eldest son of his old master, passed away. A few years after the death of Richard, came the death of his old master, Captain Anthony. With only Captain Anthony’s daughter and other son left alive, the property was being split between the two. Douglass was part of that property. Although he was enjoying his time in Baltimore more than he did anywhere else, he had to leave without a choice. Douglass was given to Lucretia and worked for her until her death. After she passed away, Douglass was sent to the only remaining family member, Thomas. He was now on his second wife and was living in St. Michaels. Master Thomas and Douglass came to realize that their lifestyles were too different (Douglass 58). After Douglass accidentally let Master Thomas’s horse run off, Master Thomas thought that something needed to be done. He sent Douglass to work for a “slave breaker”, a man named Mr. Covey (Douglass 58). Douglass was frequently awkward around his new owner, which would be the cause of his continuous whippings (Douglass 60). One day when Douglass and many other workers were in the field, Douglass’s strength failed him and he fell to the ground (Douglass 65). When Mr. Covey found Douglass, he kicked him in the side and demanded that he get up and continue working. Mr. Covey kicked …show more content…
He wrote the book, so he was able to record the many things that happened throughout his years. Because Douglass was the writer of the novel, the story is completely credible. He goes into full detail with every occurrence, and seems to include all of the information that he can remember from every story. Robert G. O’Meally wrote the introduction and the notes in the book. O’Meally is writer who graduated from Harvard University in 1975. He has written many books including Black Misery, the Book of Rhythms, and The craft of Ralph Ellison. O’Meally has also won the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts award in the United States in
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