Comparative of Narrative of the life of Frederic Douglass and The Awakening
In this life we sometimes have to follow guidelines or a set of expectations of what society expects of us; but all that we really long for is to have freedom of our self. Transcendentalist, the individual, the true-self was sacred, and conforming to the norms of the institutions of society was worse than death itself. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederic Douglass, Frederic himself revolts against the peculiar institution of slavery because he made a decision in his mind that there was something more than just be a slave in life. The awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin, it should a lady that revolts against patriarchy. Douglass upholds Civil Rights, while Chopin upholds Womens Rights; yet both essentially uphold the Right of the individual. Douglass and Chopins semiautobiographical Edna, display their true-self while revolting against the so-called traditions of society, while learning from there life experiences.
In the narrative of Douglass, he explained that he is like many other slaves who do not know when they were born and many as well do not know who his parents were. Douglass states, By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant(1). At that moment he knew that slave masters identified a way to control the minds of slaves and that was too not simply give them there age. Douglass guessed that his father was his first white master, Captain Anthony. His mother, Harriet Bailey, who was a field hand and she was not allowed to see him very often; and she died when he was seven years old. Just because his father was a white man, Douglass did not have any privileges, he was treated like any other slave. Douglass had seen a horrific sight of Captain Anthony whipping his Aunt Hester. During this time Douglass had nothing more in his life than to be a slave because that is all he had. Douglass did not have a mother to be with him all the time, but he did spend time with her at night. She would lay down with him and before he woke up she was gone. His mother ended up dying and Douglass did not even get to attend her burial. Douglass exclaims, 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(2). He expresses how he wished to enjoy those moments with his mother and her death seemed nothing more, but as too a stranger dying. He would view many female salves being harassed and beaten by their slave masters. Frederick had viewed his aunt be so physically abused that he described as the entrance to the hell of slavery, and he exclaimed I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it(4). At an early age as he was, being able to go through that is not anything blissful to go through. As he is going through these experiences he knows he is going to be a slave and one day feel that pain no one should ever feel.
Slaves would often sing songs to relieve sorrow and Douglass would listen to those songs. He described the songs as a tale of woe.(8). He stated, to those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavering(8-9). Douglass expresses his knowledge of how those songs started to dehumanize the slave and he had too sung songs of his sorrow, but too express his happiness. Douglass had went off to live with a couple by the name Auld. Mrs. Auld was very kind hearted to Douglass and she taught the alphabet to him. Just at the point of progress, Mr Auld had found out what his wife was doing and he banned her to instruct him. Mr. Auld said, If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master - to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world(20). Mr. Auld says this because the white man knows that if you teach a black man how to read or expand his mind, there would be no need in keeping him because he will know that slavery is bad and all black people are human. Douglass heart stirred up with anger, but as well as a new train of thinking to finding himself. Douglass states, I now understood mans power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From the moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom(20). Frederick was glad that he learned this from his master because it broadened his mindset and wanted him to learn more and increase more of his knowledge. Douglass started to find ways to learn more about writing and reading. He even fooled neighborhood kids into teaching him by giving bread to poor white boys in exchange for lessons, and he practiced writing using little Thomass book. Douglass begins to make independent decisions of the people around him.
In The Awakening it explores one womens desire to find and live full within her true self. The woman Edna, has friction with her friends and family because of her devotion to her strong desire of being a free women and not a house wife. Edna, and her husband Leonce, their two children are vacationing for the summer on Grand Isle, an island just off of Louisiana. Ednas friend also is staying at the pension with a family called Ratignolle family. Madame Ratignolle is a mother-woman, and she gladly sacrifices a distinct personal identity to devote her entire being to the care of her children, husband, and household. Mrs. Edna Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The author states, They were women who ideolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels. Edna has soon met a man by the name of Robert Lebrun, and Edna takes a close notice on him. Edna has spent many days and nights with Robert talking about life and things she felt free to talk about, but only with him. As Edna begins the process of identifying her true self, the self that exists apart from the identity she maintains as a wife and mother, Robert unknowingly encourages her by indulging her emerging sensuality. Edna never felt loved or appreciated by her husband, thus Edna and Robert unexpectedly become intensely infatuated with each other. Edna was sometimes forget that she even had children and she did not miss them. The author states, their absence was a sort of relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself it seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her(18). She was very much into her self and finding her true-self. It may have seem unfair to the children, but she knew well aware of what she was doing and her goal was to be a free bird. Robert had taught her how to swim so she felt an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water, meeting and melting with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her excited fancy. As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself(28).
Edna clearly establishes the process of self-discovery which she has just begun, a process by her contact with the warm Gulf waters. She is starting to understand the limitations of and feel constrained by the expectations of her culture. She had grown ever more distant from her husband, and she also starting becoming a much better artist, selling some of her work through her art teacher. She finds out Robert is leaving her so she tries to keep her mind off of him; while Robert maintain emotional and physical distance from Edna because she is a married woman, but she ultimately forces the issue by kissing him, and he confesses his love to her. Edna tries to express to Robert that she is indifferent to the social prohibitions that forbid their love; she feels herself to be an independent woman. Before Edna is able to express herself to him, she is called to attend Madame Ratignolles labor and delivery. At the end of which Madam Ratignolle asks Edna to consider the effect of her adulterous actions on her children. Edna then realizes that it will affect her little boys if they found out she left her husband for another man. Robert ended up leaving to a different country and Edna stayed with sorrow and a bright mind set of her being free. The author states, She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could posses her, body and soul(116).
In The Awakening, Edna is trapped in a marriage with a even man she does not love. This novel was published before women had rights. Before womens right women were treated like they were mens property. Before Edna started to awaken she was supposed to be a perfect mother, wife, cleaner, and so much more just like a mother-women, but Edna was not a mother-women: They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels(8). Robert is a young man who Edna starts crushing on. The only problem between their relationship is that they cannot be together mainly because Edna is already married to Mr. Potellier. When Edna socializes with Robert she begins to awaken part of her true self. The knowledge to learn how to fall in love; she sees how Robert treats her children and starts falling for him when they spend every moment of the day together: he amused himself with the little Pontellier children, who were very fond of him. That had proved to Edna that maybe her husband was not so bad.
In Frederick Douglasss autobiography, Frederick dreams to
have another life by being free than being trapped or being
slaved. He hopes that one day he will escape slavery and be a
free man that is treated equally and not like an animal. While
waiting for a plan to escape Douglass becomes a Sunday school
teacher to other slaves where he teaches others how to read and
write. Frederick begins to think seriously about escaping.
Together with several other slaves, he planned to steal a canoe
and row up Chesapeake Bay. When Frederick invited the other
slaves to accompany him; he gives them not just knowledge but
hope that they too will be free. Douglass forged notes
stating that they had permission from their owners to travel to
Baltimore, but when the day of the escape came along they were
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