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What impact did slavery have on white people in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?
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Slavery in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" has a corrupting impact on white people, eroding their moral fabric and making them cruel. Douglass illustrates this through Mrs. Auld, who transforms from kind to harsh under slavery's influence. He argues that slavery dehumanizes whites, corrupts their religious beliefs, and destroys familial structures, leading to moral degradation and societal harm, including the erosion of true Christianity and the American family.
According to Douglass (it was a view shared by other writers at the time), slavery has a corrupting effect on white people, making them cruel and hard. Douglass uses as an example the woman who is his mistress, Mrs. Auld, when he is first sent to Baltimore. He explains that she never had much contact with slaves before him, as she has worked independently as a weaver. At first, she is all kindness. She doesn't encourage cringing servility and doesn't mind if the young Douglass looks at her. As he puts it,
I was utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew how to behave towards her.
She even begins to teach him how to read until her husband puts a stop to it.
Over time, however, she changes and learns the ways of the other slave owners. Her face becomes angry and demonic and her voice harsh:
The fatal...
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poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.
For Douglass, the amount of power whites had over slaves, for which there was little or no accountability, corrupts them. He does note, however, that the social pressures of living in close quarters with other whites causes the Baltimore slaveowners to be less cruel:
There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation.
Overall, however, the evil system hurts everyone involved and dehumanizes white people.
A major theme in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the idea that slavery is an unnatural institution. In framing this argument, Douglass argues that the institution of slavery is not only detrimental to the slave but also harms white society. Douglass constructs this argument on the premise that slavery erodes the moral fabric of white society. This corruption has the potential to have negative social effects on America including the devolution of Christianity and the destruction of the American family.
It is important to realize that Frederick Douglass taught slaves about the Holy Bible and was well versed in scripture. Douglass believes that whites accommodate the sin of slavery by corrupting their own religious doctrine. They find obscure passages in the scriptures for use as justification for their sins. The narrative describes the difference between true Christianity and the American version in which a new religion has been created altogether.
Douglass also explains how the temptations created by slavery lead to the breakup of the family. The rape and adultery committed by white slaveholders is an abomination not only on the slave family but also on the white family. Children are created by these sins which creates the awkward situation of a planter actually owning their child as a slave or being forced to sell their child to another plantation. In this way, slavery is a corruption of the white and black familial institution.