Argumentative Essay *Central Argument*

I chose topic 6 i beleive. I am going to argue that slavery is dehumanizing for everyone involved, specifically the slave and slaveholder. This is what my cental argument will be. I will try to convince my reader that slavery is bad by showing them that it is a dehumanizing thing. My brainstorming has ideas and details, but it will need to grow a little more for it to start becoming an essay.
I will focus on first desribing to the reader that it dehumanizes the slaveholders, providing evidence and examples of this. The slave is directly involved and will support that idea, and then I will smoothly start talking about the slave himself, and use the slaveholder as evidence of that, and provide a summary and closing statments to get the reader to agree with me.
This was a very extremely brief summary of how my essay will go, but it's a start, like what will point me in the right direction as I begin to write my essay.

Narrative of the life and times of Frederick Douglass: Final Chapter

I am glad to finally read about Frederick's freedom. All through the narrative I knew it was coming, but now its good that it's finally here and he doesnt have to go through the hardships of slavery any longer. I really wish he would have gone into more detail about his escape, because it was either not discussed, or I missed it. But it didnt seem that it happened all that suddenly. Officially he did become free suddenly, but he unofficially became free before then because he slowly gained more freedoms as a slave. He had jobs, and actually made money. This is completely different from other aspects of slavery, and I'm suprised he was able to do this. Douglass said he exerienced the difficulties of both a slave and a free man, but did not recieve the same benefits as if he was free.
At first life was hard when he was free, not being able to trust anyone, and living in the fear you could be taken back at any moment, it must have been horrible. But Douglass finally met a man named Mr.Ruggles, who was able to help him out, along with other runaway slaves. Douglass later got married and moved away with her and finally experienced the way a free life should be experienced with difficulties finding a job included. To bring these narrative reactions to an end, i thought Douglass did a great job in his life story argueing for the side of the north. I'm glad we were able to read this and get a better understanding of the life of a slave.
Comments:
1) I wish Douglass would have gone into more detail on his escape.
2) I'm glad Douglass was able to find a person like Mr.Ruggles in a time where he really needed it
Questions:
1) Why did Douglass trust Mr.Ruggles?
2) Why didn't Douglass' master try and search for him?

Chapter 10 Review

In chapter 10, frederick Douglass finally made an attempt or at least a plan to escape, which made me glad that his escape is coming. I was bummed when someone found out, probably because one of the slaves had told their master. It was probably because he got cold feet, but still, why would he tell? I don't know, but whatever the reason, it ruined their plan. All the others were able to return to the plantation, but Douglass was sent back to one of his former masters, Mr.Hugh. His old mistress who taught him to read was sympathetic again to him after he was beaten severly. Its these small things that make Douglass' life all that much better.
Questions:
Why would Douglass continue to work if his profit was continually taken away?
Why does his desire to be free grow when he finally gets a decent master?

Frederick Douglass Chapters 8, 9, & 10

The whole while I was reading this section I was thinking of the saying "It gets worse before it gets better." I think that now that its getting worse and worse, it can only start to get better for Douglass. Now he is actually talking about running away to be free, rather than just dreaming about being free. The next step will be the actual action of him escaping, and the result will be freedom. That's what I think the story is leading up to.
I don't all that much like Covey, because he's cruel, but that doesn't set him aside from all the other slave holders who were equally cruel to their slaves. Overall, I don't like any of the slave holders with the exception of the woman who taught him to read. That is until she turned into a vicious slaveholder like all the rest. His actual owner who oversees Covey seems to be the best however. He was fair to Douglass aside from whipping threats, but that's common culture, and he seems the most reasonable. I was glad Douglass could go to him for help.
Comments & Questions
Chapter 8
Comment: His master dying brought Douglass new opportunity.
Question: If his grandmother was "free", why didn't she just leave that place?
Chapter 9
Comment: I don't like any of his masters so far, especially Thomas.
Question: If slaves were property, why wouldn't the slaveholders take care of their stuff?
Chapter 10
Comment: Good for Douglass! Standing up against Covey mad me happy.
Question: Why was Douglass not punished for rebelling against Covey?

Comments and Questions Chapters 5-7

Blake is my partner
Chapter 5:
     Comment 1: I am happy that he was able to leave the plantation and be a house slave.
     Comment 2: I felt sorrow for him having to live on the plantation in the winter with minimul clothing.
     Question 1: How did he survived through the winter with nothing but two shirts and a sack?
     Question 2: Why was he okay with leaving his siblings behind?
Chapter 6:
     Comment 1: I'm glad he could finally see the good in white people and realize they weren't all bad.
     Comment 2: It was a disapointment that she wasn't that nice for long.
     Question 1: Why were the city slaves treated better?
     Question 2: I understand why she stopped teaching, but why did she become cruel after all?
Chapter 7:
     Comment 1: I am glad he finally learned to read and write.
     Comment 2: This really is the start of Douglass' escape and career as a writer.
     Question 1: How did he obtain the books?
     Quesiton 2: Why would the mistress go against her husband and teach him how to read and write?

Slaves are people too!

It is common today to know that african-americans are people just as much as anyone else, but this wasnt as common a beleif back then. Slaves were thought of as property, or tools, no more than a shovel today. They were even less than a pet goldfish is in today's world. Thank god that changed, and people finally started realizing that EVERYONE is equal and should be treated as such.
It is hard to beleive that they couldn't see them as people. They looked and acted nearly exactly the same as the rest of the population. Like in chapter 6, when they were fed the mush, they eat when they're hungry. And they scream when they're whipped, and show sadness in their expressions when a loved one has died, just like everyone else. They thought and felt, like evryone else, they are people too.
Frederick Douglass as a child sought for knowledge and wanted so badly to be able to read and write. A longing found in people, not animals nor objects. And once he read he was able to generate his own thoughts and feelings about what he read, and dreamed of freedom. All traits of a human being, a person.

Amistad Reaction

This is much worse than what i had imagined while reading Frederick Douglass. From the sounds of it, getting there looks much worse than actually being a slave. I'm not sure what i'd do, jumping off the boat seems like the best option to me. It would be much better, i think, to drown than to experience the horrors of the ship ride, and then to live the life of  a slave until the day I die.
However if I had a baby, I'm not sure what I would do... They would have their whole life ahead of them, but what kind of life is it? It might be better to put them out of their misery, and jump off the boat with them, but i would fell terrible and probably couldn't follow through with it. Since I'm not experiencing it, it is hard to know what I'd do, and even harder if I was aboard the ship.
I was wondering while watching this, why would the US make a law to not allow slaves from Africa, if they were just going to get around it and know of it the whole time?

Frederick Douglass Chapters 2, 3, & 4

I thought what Douglass described was horrible. I knew things like this happened as a slave, but I never thought about it or imagined how horrific it all was. He hasn't even begun to describe the hard work they went through each and every day, and it still is awful. I am glad this isn't going on today. What makes it worse is that all of this was witnessed as a child. He had to deal with his family dieing everyday, and still go out there with minimal clothing and do his duties.
The story of the man that was shot and killed for standing in the water and not getting out disturbed me. Also of the girl who was beaten to death because the child she was babysitting cried. This upset me because not only is killing wrong, but to lose a life for these reasons is just terrible. Whipping was bad enough for punishment for stupid things, but death is definitely not okay.
This also inflicted fear in all the slaves and demolished all hope they had in their overworked bones. They were tough though, to have less than adequate food and clothing, to work as they did, and do watch as their peers were beaten and killed right before they're eyes.

Frederick Douglass Chapter 1

The purpose of the letters of introduction would obviously be to introduce you to "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" and to chapter one. It allows you to know what the narrative will be about before you jump right into it. You will know that he was a slave before eventually becoming free, but the introduction tells you that this is what it is about, and that it is a reliable source because he has actually met Frederick Douglass.
 From chapter one i can't tell if it is chronological order yet, but it may be since it was mainly about him as a child. Often times that format can be boring, but is helpful when trying to learn more about the person. I can tell from the first chapter that this book is not gonna be all that happy, and is going to be filled with hardship. Douglass already spoke about being separated from his mother and of her dieing, so I can tell the story is only going to get worse, most likely right before it gets better. The "getting better" meaning when he becomes free.
But still the purpose of him writing this wasn't because it had a happy ending, because with all he's been through, there will be no happy ending. He still has not yet met or even known who is father was, known his actual name, or been able to get the imagery of his aunt being whipped right before his eyes out of his head after all those years.
This narrative is the transition from westward expansion to the civil war, and so far i think this will be a good read seeing as it was during the time, and by a person involved with slaves and the civil war.