After reading for 25 minutes I was able to read chapter 4 and 5 which gave me a very different set of ideas than from previous chapters. So many that in fact I feel a bit overwhelmed over what to discuss or what this piece of writing is going to be about, so I'm going to give it my best. One of the big picture ideas I got from this reading is that with time the point of view of a person tends to change. I believe this is due to the fact that with time you acquire more experiences from which you can analyze and give a comparison, thus changing your view of things. This I see throughout both chapters, he starts talking about his very harsh condition under Colonel Lloyd's plantation "In hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost naked- no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing on but a coarse tow linen shirt, reaching only to my knees. I had no bed. (p.39)" We can see the primitive conditions that he is accustomed to live under. But then he is moved to Baltimore which from his description seems to be to me like a haven for slaves, as society is much more civilized than were he used to be. So with a more educated society we can see much less cruelty and a bit more humanity towards slaves "There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation. (p.46)"After this quote I could not comprehend what I just read, I was astonished. Did I just read that in a slave society (as the south was at that time) there was a sense of shame towards cruelty it was really shocking. From this I was able to see a big change in point of view in Frederick Douglas he saw that his plantation wasn't the only thing in the world and that in other places slaves were actually treated better. I believe he saw the same thing that I noticed which is that were there is a higher degree of overall education and exposure to a current of different ideas there is more consciousness towards human rights but off course exceptions apply.
There was also another idea that Frederick proposed or theory perhaps which is: someone who isn't in contact with slavery does not have that sense of racism and inequality as others. I can explain better my thought trough this quote: "My new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door, -a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself, and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery. (p.44)" We can see from this that a person who's life is distant from slavery doesn't adapt that innate cruelty towards slaves that we are know of. She taught him to read, something no person in her right mind would do in a slave society. But she did it because she did not even know that she couldn't do that this is my whole point without the knowledge of slavery there is no preconception on how to treat someone from another race.
We can see that throughout time this kind mistress changes " But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. (p.44)"Her husband makes her get in touch with the ideology of slavery and how to act upon it so she changed for good and became less kind to Frederick. This tiny slip made by his mistress have him a key to his freedom, he now had the ability to read and question the institution of slavery and to put up to question why does education of the black have grave consequences against slavery. This is the moment were I believe the game changed for him and his life became a timer in which the end of it would mean his self release from slavery.
Vocab:
tow
sloop
galling
egotistical
abhorence
blighting
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