The Frederick Narrative of His Life is a description of his life as a slave and the process of self-discovery that led him to recognize the negative aspects of slavery as a system. He describes how his master kept him away from his mother after his birth in order to prevent him from developing an attachment to her. The poetic story by Walt Whiteman adopts a spiritual viewpoint. In the poetry, Whiteman uses a variety of figurative techniques to try and explain both his own and society's perceptions of race and gender. The paper will compare the two narratives while primarily concentrating on racial issues that existed in America during the era of slavery. Fredrick Douglas literal work demonstrates how he was enslaved from childhood. Even though during that time it was normal for blacks to be enslaved, Douglas further explains that the means by which slave masters distort societal links and the natural processes of life so as to enslaved the black community was not right. In most cases according to the Douglas` narratives is that slaves rarely knew their ages; thus, his awareness of his position as a slave and of the meaning of slavery as an institute was advanced when he saw his aunt was violently beaten by her masters.
During his time as a slave, Douglas realized that remaining ignorant and illiterate was the idea of their masters to ensure the slaves remained submissive. Thus, he decided to learn how to read. Accordingly, he learnt that as an institution, slavery had its way of transforming people from kindhearted to violent. From the lessons he learnt, Douglas refused to accept more discipline from his master, which resulted into a violent fight, in the end, he defeated his master. He vowed and resolved never to be a slave anymore and that was the beginning of his freedom. Therefore, it can be said that Douglas abhorred slavery and that is why he chose to do the impossible in order to earn himself freedom.
On the other hand, the centrality of slavery to the thinking of Whitman can be illuminated as commonalty that cut across gender, race and conditions. Whitman asserted that he he was an antislavery, and despite the fact that he was a white man, he believed that all humans were equal regardless of their race. Thus, Whitman assertion on racial relation makes it possible to position his literal work within a rhetorical space that is majorly shaped by ideals of majority of white Americans who were proslavery. Ideally, Whiteman does not assume a strong antislavery position and thus he shared an almost similar understanding on racial relations with proslavery White Americans.
Reflection of societal expectation on race and masculinity in antebellum America
In the Fredrick Douglas narrative, he recounts how the enslaved population majorly comprising of African Americans were treated like less humans. He showcased the mistreatment of Black slaves and how the legal system mostly favored the White Americans and rarely provided justice to the African Americans regardless of the atrocities committed to them. In the course of the anecdote, Douglass provides an account of various murderous cruelties that the American Africans were subjected to by their masters. In one instance, he recounts how a slave was shot dead by neighboring White farmer for unknowingly trespassing in his plantation. In another instance, the slave owner shot a slave on the head as he fled towards a water stream as he attempted to escape a bloody aggression. In both instance, Douglas recounts that there was no judicial investigation that was carried out nor were the perpetrators charged. This clearly showed in the antebellum America the society perceived African Americans as inferior and subjects of the white Americans.
In Douglass narrative, Antebellum American women were not treated equally with their male counterparts. White Women were perceived as homemakers and were subjects of their husbands. As such, this meant that they were to remain submissive and heed the instructions of their husbands. Conversely, masculinity was synonymous to authority and this is with regards to white males. For instance, Douglass recount how his slave masters in Baltimore was usually authoritative and ordered both his wife and his slaves around. The slave master’s wife was kind to the slaves and in particular, to Douglas and it is through her kindness that he became interested in enhancing his literacy level.
As earlier mentioned, the Walt Whiteman poetic narrative assumes a spiritual perspective. He first begins by proclaiming his love for the world particularly the nature and every other element complements each other. Among his key assumptions is that every human is equal and that also includes the slaves who were considered a sub humans in the antebellum America by white Americans. Whiteman employs various figurative styles in the poem as tries to explain his racial perception and that of the society. To do so, he contends that the ‘grass’ places little emphasis on social class, race and tribe. In the poem the idea of social, gender and racial equality manifest in the horizontal deployment of grass.
Narrative comparison
In the poem leaves of Grass, Whiteman fails to capture the general humanity but rather his literal work is focuses on America. In the preface of the narrative, Whiteman asserts that the Americans have the greatest poetical nature. The idealized American image in Whiteman literal work essentially portrays a type of chauvinism that may offend a section of the readers particularly the non-Americans. As such, it is in order to conclude that though Whitman has vast literal skills, this aspect is one of the key weaknesses of his writing.
Conversely, Fredrick Douglass slave narrative provides an account of his life as a slave and his ultimate escape from captivity by his master to freedom. As the narrative progresses, Douglass explains how he was able to attain his personal identity and freedom. The narrative begins by expounding how the narrator was born and raised in slavery. The slavery denied the narrator his sense of identity and thus he did not know his actual birth date and his birth mother.
Conclusion
As evidenced in the discussion above, the key similarity between Fredrick Douglass narrative and the leaves of Grass is that the authors are the voices in the literature. However, unlike the Whitman poem, Douglass narrative is based on his actual life experience as a slave. In the poem, Whiteman majorly employs metaphors and symbolism as he ponders about the meaning of life. On the contrary, Douglass rarely employs figurative speech as he simply provides a chronological tale about his life experiences as a slave. For this reason, a reader can easily decipher the narrative unlike the Whiteman literal work, which requires a reader to be keen to avoid misinterpreting it.
References
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Modern Library Classics (Paper, 2000.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of grass and other writings: authoritative texts, other poetry and prose, criticism. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2005.
