Fredrick Douglass :: essays papers

Fredrick Douglass Fredrick Douglass vs. Gone with the Wind. That’s how I perceived the two pieces of literature, Douglass is writing a true account of what his experience has been in slavery while Gone with the Wind is a fictional production of southern life. Pardon the simile but they are like black and white. Douglass gives a graphic portrayal of his own beatings and being forced to work. The guy didn’t even know when his birthday was, at first I was like big deal, but after I thought about it and that would suck not knowing when you were brought into the world. Not knowing your Mother real well would seriously bite but I loved how in the night she would walk the twelve miles to the plantation just to put her boy to sleep. Very touching. It’s odd for me to think of my Mom dying and not being that sad. Douglass said it was like hearing about a stranger dying. Gone with the Wind was however a completely different story. I look at Scarlet and I’m thinking, â€Å"man what a fox† how could anything bother her? Does she even have a clue as to how terrible slavery really is? She has everything, the house, the clothes, and the influence, everything except for the man of her dreams but hey she eventually gets a piece at the end of the show. I can see why this movie has been around for like fifty years, it’s because it’s what’s people want to believe, what flatters us. I’m guilty of this, I would much rather watch a pretty decent movie about the â€Å"southern dream†: ladies, money and debutantes opposed to almost feeling the sting on my back as I soak up Douglass’s narrative on slavery, sickness and tribulations. Douglass repeats a couple times that literacy is the seat of freedom, I don’t know about that. Sure, you are free to read when possible and write when allowed but that doesn’t deliver you from the bonds of slavery, who cares if you are educated? To a slave owner you are one step closer to an uprising and this in turn makes him punish you even more brutally. I don’t believe its freedom to read. If I was a slave I would be so depressed I think I’d give up and let myself die, I mean it can only get better from here right?