Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Analysis: Triumph of Autonomy

The effect of Douglas’s fight with Convey on his Psychology and spirituality.

Mr. Covey, a white farmer who considers himself to have a reputation of being a slave-breaker, really mistreats his slaves, especially those that have been seen as troublesome by their masters. When he receives such slaves, he uses his method of working them up tirelessly and whipping them to the extent that they can remember their names. With his method of sneaking around to catch up with the slaves who are shirking their given work, Douglass argues that none of the slaves under his custody knew about the next place he would pop up.

The most arguable turning point in the life of Douglass comes up when Convey attempts to whip him. Such an attempt leads them to a fight after Douglass refuses to be whipped. The fight lasts for about an hour or two ending up in more of a draw or less (Matlack, 15).

At the end of the fight, Convey maintains that what is more significant to him is the reputation he holds as the slave-breaker. He, therefore, keeps silent about the act that had taken place between him and Douglass instead of telling anybody that one of the slaves under his custody stood up for him. Due to this, Convey agrees to let Douglass get away with the fight as if he had won. The acts of unfair treatment and ruthlessness, as shown by Convey, serve as the best turning point in the life of Douglass. Despite being a ruthless master, Convey was also a hypocritical religious man who feigned the Christian faith only when it was beneficial to him.

Before the fight with Convey, Douglass could give himself to the demands of Convey towards reading the quoted scriptures that Convey used to praise himself (Trotman, 83). Douglass does not praise such acts by saying, “For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the cruelest and cowardly, of all others” (1217). However, after the fight, Douglass refuses to read such, proving that such kind of betrayal implies that he has not been totally broken by Convey but made stronger. However, apart from the spiritual firmness, Douglass becomes psychologically stable and prepared to handle his master and all that he meets as the story goes on. The essay, therefore, discusses the psychological and spiritual implications of the fight between Convey and Douglass on Douglass as manifested later in the text.

At the time when Douglass starts working for Convey, he describes him as a deceptive, snake-like, and exceptionally cruel person. It is during the encounter with Convey that Douglass experiences several changes in his life. At first, Douglass sees himself to have been “broken in body, soul and spirit” (Douglass, 1210) though after his encounter with Convey, he vows that he will never be bound again, making him describe the fight as a turning point using the words “how a slave made a man” (Douglass, 1211). Such words prove to be a mental turning point in the life of Douglass since the event finally made him get his freedom. He even further says, “If at any one time of my life more than another, I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery, that time was during the first six months of my stay with Mr. Covey” (Douglass, 1211).

Douglass fully believes that having mental resistance was the major step towards getting his independence. Starting with the effect of the fight on Douglass’s spirituality, he started feeling that religion and morality were not really different and that the southern church must be in support of immorality carried out by the slave masters because it accepted the slave earned money from the masters. In the text, various instances are seen where violent acts are done by the slave masters on the slaves, and to justify their acts, the masters could quote biblical verses to rationalize and further illustrate their cruelty. Despite the fact that Convey read and cited scriptures that deemed him holy, the fight made Douglass believe that he, even the masters, attended church and boasted of having good Christian values; it all showed acts of deception and hypocrisy. To Douglass, for one to argue to be treating the other like a human being, they must lose their own moral soundness and humanity.

Moreover, the fight gave Douglass a greater insight into emphasizing the concept of slavery as a violation of Christian beliefs by saying that “no slave owner or supporter is really a Christian” (Douglass, 1211). Such an argument seems offensive to people like Convey and other slave owners who saw themselves to be true Christians. To Douglass, the winning of the fight and the experience he had had with Convey made him feel that he wanted an appendix so as to clear up the beliefs he had if at all they looked challenging to Christianity, as seen throughout the text. He says, “My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact” (Douglass, 1213). As the text continues, the difference in the mental and spiritual autonomy between Emerson, Thoreau, and Douglass seems to be more drastic. It can be well perceived that Emerson and Thoreau were just free white men who used biblical references and quotations to create beauty that nobody could pay attention to. The spirituality shown by these two men was of joy and not composed of suffering and confinement, as perceived by Douglass. The experience that Douglass had had with Convey made him speak of Christianity to refer to the slave masters who only talked of biblical references when justifying the punishment and treatment they imposed on their slaves. The spiritual autonomy of Douglass is that a white man is a hypocrite because he has the gut to see fellow brethren suffer at the hands of so-called Christians. His mental autonomy on spirituality is thus different from Emerson, Convey, and Thoreau as he cannot stand to please his life using biblical quotations at the expense of other people suffering (Trotman, 88).

Nevertheless, the experience that Douglas had with Convey shaped his psychology and mentality on various issues. After the fight with Covey, Douglass felt more empowered since he never got whipped or mistreated by a slave owner again. Such a moment was autonomous in his life as he became more motivated, inspired, and had the will to live, something he had never had before. That experience made him more psychologically prepared that, once enough is enough, one has to stand right for himself and fight for himself. The experience later gave Douglass mental empowerment, inspiration, and motivation to live their own life, one that is free from mistreatment despite being a slave (Matlack, 15). Douglass’s mental empowerment, which was a psychological relief to him, addressed the concept of autonomy as he had grown tired of being treated harshly for the things that he had no control. For instance, when he was in fields with other slaves together with other white men, he became such due to exhaustion and dehydration. Instead of being accorded sympathy, he is beaten up by his master Mr. Covey and has to run to his old master in thick woods and briars for some help which he does not get. The fight between him and Covey was thus a manifestation of psychological independence to Douglass as he came back strongly, gained self-independence, and stood for himself (Matlack, 15). Such independence is not earned by Thoreau and Emerson even though they share different views on autonomy.

Finally, the mental empowerment that Douglass got, as well as his desire for autonomy, made him a thirst for education more. Psychological awareness made Douglass realize that having an education would make him long for the equality of other slaves, an issue that would bring an end the slavery. This is the reason why the slave owners never wanted their slaves to attain any education (Matlack, 17). Achieving the state of mental empowerment allowed Douglass to think of himself autonomously; hence was not ready to accept dangerous stuff that was propagated by the slave owners. After getting a sense of enlightenment and empowerment, Douglass encouraged others like Emerson and Thoreau to think of themselves so as to gain the same mental independence.

Works Cited

1. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Anti-slavery Office. 1845. United States: Boston. Pp. 1211-18
2. James Matlack. ‘The Autobiographies of Frederick Douglas.’ Phylon (1960), Vol. 40, No. 1 .1979. pp. 15–28
3. James Trotman, Frederick Douglass’s Spirituality. Teaching about Frederick Douglass. JSTOR Journal. 2012. Pp. 83-103

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