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Frederick Douglass Mental Brutality

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Slaves in the United States prior to the abolition of slavery were brutally tortured, yet not just physically but mentally. And throughout it's existence in the United States, this type of torturing was allowed. It is common knowledge that throughout the autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slaves had witnessed much physical brutality. However, the mental brutality that slaves had gone through was much worse than the physical brutality. The mental brutality that slaves had faced was in the form of the stripping of identity, verbal beratement, and being subject to unfair treatment from their masters. The first type of Mental brutality slaves had gone through was the stripping of their identities. The first instance of …show more content…
And thus, slaves not knowing their own birthdays were one of the many inequalities that separated them from non-slaves & masters, and supported the reasoning at the time that slaves are naturally inferior to non-slaves. Of course, this type of reasoning is obviously racially biased, but most masters would want their slaves to have as little of an identity as possible to prevent them from realizing how the system of slavery is corrupt and that they should try to escape it if they truly want a better future. The second instance of the stripping of identity is the quote, “Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardships and suffering. She died when I was about seven years old, on one of my master’s farms, near Lee’s Mill. I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew anything about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger,” (pages 2-3). The …show more content…
However, the mental brutality slaves had faced was much worse than the physical brutality. This is due to the fact that slaves would be mentally abused by: being stripped of their identity, being verbally berated, and being unfairly treated by their masters. Slaves such as Frederick Douglass were stripped of their identity by processes such as not being told their date of birth/age, and spending such little time with their mothers that little to no relationship is formed. Thus, through methods like this slaves were stripped of their identity to emphasize the idea that they are not equal to non-slaves with the goal that the slaves would not wish for a better life. They were verbally berated in instances such as when Aunt Hester was cursed at by Captain Anthony, again to reinforce the idea that slaves were inferior. Finally, slaves witnessed mental brutality though receiving unfair punishments from their masters. This is seen in the narrative in instances such as when the slaves of Colonel Lloyd would have to constantly worry if they had met the standards of their masters, and they didn’t most of the time, and when Demby was shot by Mr. Gore who received no punishment, giving slaves such as Frederick the mentality that they were ultimately inferior and not important to

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