Living La Vida Ignorant: Critical Essay

Living La Vida Ignorant

In the autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author illustrates vividly the effects of ignorance of slaves, weighing heavily especially on the overall control their lack of knowledge gives the slaveholders. Douglass lives in the time when slavery is the easiest and most accessible resource for power throughout the United States. Taking a detailed walk through his life, he tracks his career as a slave and publishes the collection of event in a time when he wasn’t safe, only doing so as to let those ignorant of the slaves’ situation know the pain they endured. Ignorance runs deep in the veins of the slave community, especially in their lack of knowledge of themselves, their ability to read and write, and the repercussions when their ignorance lessens.

Seen as cause for aggravation, it is knowingly uncommon for slave to possess any basic knowledge of themselves. For example, in the beginning of the narrative, Douglass introduces himself as well as his situation in that he does “not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday… seldom did they come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time (19).” Douglass conveys that there are few slaves, if any, that can give any amount of basic information about themselves, let alone anyone else. Though they come close, the privilege of grasping such intelligence isn’t bestowed upon them by their owners. To further institute his frustration, Douglass reiterates in the introduction of himself as well as his life that it “is the wish of most masters… to keep their slaves thus ignorant (19).” Douglass puts into perspective how the slave-holders cruelly whip and batter their slaves as a way of preventing them from relinquishing their ignorance, when really it only causes more discontent in throughout the slave community. They feel more than inadequate compared to the white boys who knew so much more about themselves. As a final thought, Douglass muddles through how his lack of knowledge about himself affects his treatment as a slave as he was “not allowed to make such inquiries… he deemed such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless soul (19).” Douglass takes a moment to explain how the slaves’ masters refused to answer their questions regarding themselves, such inquiries labeling them as “trouble-making” and subjecting them to being broken and molded into submissive slaves without such discontent. Therefore, the slaves’ basic knowledge of themselves, something the majority possess nothing of, is a clear gateway for the slave owners to keep their slaves content, punishing them as a means of keeping them complacent. The slaves’ ignorance is the only reason the slaveholders are successful and continue to profit from their use.

Both a “blessing and a curse”, another aspect of ignorance Douglass refers to in the narrative is the slaves’ lack of ability to read and write. For instance, after Captain Auld’s wife, Sophia, has taught Douglass his ABC’s before becoming as ruthless as her husband, Douglass makes sure to use that to his advantage after he is forbidden from reading and “nothing seemed to make her [Sophia Auld] more angry than to see me with a newspaper. She seemed to think here lay the danger (52).” The slaves’ common inability to read and write instills in them that they are as much beasts as the horses who possessed no such ability either. Sophia is intimidated by Douglass’s newly acquired skills because he will no longer know just what he sees or hears but also anything he chooses to read. The danger of lost ignorance is there, where slaveholders wish it to remain, their success on the brink of plummeting. To further prove his determination, Douglass ingeminates that because of Sophia, his mistress, there is no straying from the path to reading and writing because “the first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell (52).” Douglass takes into account the determination he possesses by regarding his need to eradicate his ignorance. He is given an inch of room to move into a more knowledgeable head-space, only to use that room to move himself out of slavery and build a life for himself. No matter the opposition, Douglass is persistent in gaining and keeping his new-found ability to read and write. Still, as Douglass continues to progress with his skills, he regards an epiphany slaves are prevented from having that “as I read and contemplated the subject behold! that very discontentment that Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish (54).” Douglass experiences a climactic epiphany after witnessing  Sophia turn into a mirror of her husband regarding his discontent because he now understands. He foreshadows the surface of the pain he is soon to experience due to his new abilities. Almost like running head-on into a brick wall, Douglass doesn’t know what is to come due to his skill until it hits. Therefore, possessing the ability to read and write is yet another form of how slaveholders kept their slaves ignorant regarding the world outside the plantation, though when learned, is cause for rebellion, which is the root of fear for slaveholders.

Although ignorance runs rampant through the slave community, there are slaves. such as Douglass, who break the binding chains of ignorance and make a name and life for themselves unlike what the majority of slaves couldn’t. In a letter sent to Douglass by Wendell Phillips, Phillips makes an allusion to prove how ecstatic the slaves are when given the chance to tell their story. To Douglass, he made sure to recall “the old fable of ‘The Man and The Lion’, where the lion complained that he should not be misrepresented ‘when the lions wrote history’… I am glad the time has come… (13).” Phillips, in sending this letter to Douglass uses an allusion to make evident the discontent of the slaves at having their stories and experiences contorted to fit the views of an unmoving society, though those slaves that possess such ignorance hardly have any idea of what is being said outside the walls of their plantation. In areas later on in the letter, Phillips addresses the fact that Douglass’s speeches are all unbiased and “everyone who has heard you speak has felt, and, I am confident, everyone who reads your book will feel persuaded that you give them a fair specimen of the whole truth (14).” Douglass’s lack of ignorance, with the help of his freedom, allows him to publish his unbiased truth regarding the evils of slavery. As a final point in the letter to Douglass, Phillips acknowledges that Douglass “too, published your declaration of freedom with danger compassing around (15).” Phillips credits Douglass with publishing his work in a time of great caution, especially in those freed slaves because they are risking getting pulls back into the unforgiving world of slavery. Although ignorance is an overpowering weight that ties many slaves down, some, such as Douglass, escapes and paves a new path regarding the public opinion of slavery due to their lack of such ignorance.Through these people, the world’s view revolutionizes and brings forth the path to racial equality.

    By the end of the narrative, Douglass experience and explains the ignorance of slaves being cause for rebellion and submission as they view how a slave’s lack of ignorance affects the world around them. Douglass supports that ignorance is the source of many struggles and lack thereof causes the truth to come to light regarding slavery. Slavery ruins lives, separates families, and victimizes many people. Although some of the lives taken during this time are due to outside factors other than ignorance, many are due to that. The control of a slave changes almost like children trading collectible toys, and it hardly seems to deter slaveholders when laws and such are passed. Though times have changed, segregation still exists, just not to such an extreme level.