Introduction
The story, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, is an autobiography by Frederick Douglas in which he narrates his experiences as a slave in the US. Frederick Douglass narrates how he served as a slave under Captain Anthony, Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Gore among others. He later manages to flee to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he is hired as a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society. To tell his story, Fredrick Douglass uses several methods of development. Methods of development include narratives, process, classification, comparison and contrast, description among others (Jacobus, 908). The three methods of development used by Fredrick Douglass are narratives, description as well as comparisons and contrasts.
The first and most extensively used method of development used in the essay is narration or narrative. A narrative simply explains how something happened or it tells a story. In this case, Douglas tells a story and explains how life was when he was growing up in a society rife with racial injustices (Douglass, William and William, 6). He narrates how he was born in Talbot County, Maryland and how he remembers his childhood (Douglas, 3). Douglass narrates how he was separated from his mother soon after birth and how he used to see his mother on rare occasions. The following part points to the use of outstanding narration by the author, “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” (Douglas, 3). In this case, Douglass narrates the events surrounding his mother’s demise. He goes on to narrate how he had his first master in Captain Anthony. Further, he narrates of the ordeals of torture and harassment during his time with Captain Anthony such as the punishment of Aunt Hester by Captain Anthony (Douglass, William and William, 12). Throughout the essay, Douglas narrates the story of how he served as a slave and the hardships he faced along the way until he managed to get educated, plan an escape and eventually flee from slavery. As such, narration becomes an essential method of development through which the author presents a whole account of his life.
Fredrick Douglas extensively uses description as a method of development. In the first chapter, Douglas describes the character of one overseer named Plummer. He describes the Plummer as “a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster. He always went armed with a cow-skin and a heavy cudgel (Douglas, 4). He also describes incidents about life in slavery such as the treatment of Aunt Hester after she had gone out with a slave named Ned. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin” (Douglas, 5). In several other instances Douglas thoroughly describes scenes, events, people and their characters, places among other things in order to create a mental picture among the readers about slavery.
Conclusion
The three methods of development extensively used in the essay by Fredrick Douglas are narration, description as well as comparing and contrasting. Since the story is emotive, I find that the use of first person narration as well as detailed description of events, people and places as perfectly befitting to bring out the emotions and the themes contained in the story. Contrasting the lifestyles of white masters and slaves brings to the fore the main themes of oppression and slavery that are contained in the story. The three methods are perfect in the development of this story since they are complementary.
Works Cited
Douglass, Frederick. The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. S.l.: Quiet Vision, 2000. Print.
Douglass, Frederick, William L. Andrews, and William S. McFeely. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: authoritative text, contexts, criticism. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 19961997. Print.
Jacobus, Lee A. A world of ideas: essential readings for college writers. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.
