Autonomy or Slavery?

Frederick Douglass already told us the basics of what he and other slaves had to deal with while in the plantations. Now he is telling us about, as he states it “…one of the most interesting events in my life”(pg.77). And that is, going from being a plantation slave to a city slave in Baltimore. Douglass narrating this chapter of his life as a big positive one, (even though he is still a slave to white families) tells us how different it is to be a city slave and what perks they have (if fortunate). Such that he suffers from neither hunger, nor cold anymore. Unlike to the plantations, where this was his main challenge. He tells us his life changing moment is moving to Baltimore, and I see completely how this is, since it is here he discovers the way to free himself from slavery: “I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom…and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn”(pg.82). We can see how Douglass is really a smart man, assuming that the way out of slavery is education, and by how he turned out to be, he undeniably asserted.

While I read these two chapters what kept going through my head was how related this is to Fitzhugh’s narrative of how it is better to be a slave rather than a white working man. He argues how slaves have everything given to them but with the obvious consequence of maltreatment, while workingmen simply have to be miserable and be “slaves” to work, or else they end up homeless or starving. At first this seemed like a ridiculous presentation of slavery, since we have been taught all our lives how horrible it is. But when Douglass talks about how well he is treated, at least at the beginning, and how much better his living conditions are including better clothing and food, there is a part of me that agrees with Fitzhugh’s argument. Not of how in all cases its desirable to be a slave, but how in some circumstances it may be better.