Book review on the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass
was born a slave but through luck and perhaps divine
intervention was allowed to live a life far different than his
brethren. The tone of the book is that of a free man, instead of
saying he was sold or sent to new masters he uses the euphemism
“went to live with…” as if he were free in his own mind although
he was still under the control of another. The overall theme of
the book is neatly stated in the introduction “…its thematic
strategy of linking freedom and literacy.” The book describes in
detail the horrors of slavery and his increasing desire to be
free as he taught himself to read and write and by reading such
books as “The Columbian Orator”. To make a person a slave there
are several things that must be done that Douglass sees
happening to maintain the slaves. One is to make the slaves
think of freedom as terrible. Another is to keep the slaves too
busy and helpless to even think Although not all people share
these beliefs, I think it m