A Harsh Reality

          Chapters one and two

The first two chapters of "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas" show the life conditions of a normal slave at the time, the mistreatment and abuse from the masters and overseers, and the social opinions.

These two chapters state how the slaves survived in hard conditions, exposed to extreme climates and hard labor with small portions of food and light clothing: "... slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for the winter, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole which could not have cost more than seven dollars"(pg.21-22).  It's clear how the life conditions of these men, women and children were terrible. They were forced to work for long periods of time, wearing nothing but a shirt and trousers, mistreated physically and verbally by their overseers or by their masters. When they were able to get through the day, and finally rest, their bed was "cold damp floor" and their covered only by a blanket (if lucky to have one).
Besides the explanation of the slaves "life style", Douglass states how a son of a master with a slave was often sold off and sent to another plantation: "... a man to sell his own children to human flesh-mongers, it is often the dictate of humanity for him to do so; for, unless he does this he must not only whip them himself, but must stand by and see ... and if he lisp one word of disapproval, it is set down to his parental partiality, and only makes a bad matter worse, both for himself and the slave whom he would protect and defend".  Frederick Douglass was directly related to this action because the suspicion of the possible paternity of a white master was the cause of the separation from his mother (which he only saw "four or five times in his life) at a very early age.

I really enjoyed reading the beginning of the book because its details make you realize the situation all slaves lived in, and the book has so many interesting descriptions and memoirs, it catches your attention in one second!