DIRECTIONS: Read the provided chapter from Frederick Douglass's book and write a 500-word summary of the text. Please copy and paste the text into a Gdoc (which will be stored in your digital portfolio) and highlight areas of the text that generate thought or insight.
After reading “ A Change Came O’er the Spirit of My Dream” , You can really picture Fredrick Douglas’s purpose for writing this. I personally can connect to a lot of things he says, ecspecially a lot of his deep quotes.
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, the writer mentions his childhood from when he was a little boy. As we can see, his is a slave. In the begining of the chapter, he talks about his “mistress”, the lady that owns him. From the text, he says that she is a kind, tender hearted woman. She comes from great knowledge and even starts to teach him how to read. As a young boy, not yet seeing what reality had in store for him, he thought she was a good slave owner that was going to educate him and really care for him.
As he got older, Fredrick began to see things unravel and start to change. He now realized that she is not the women he once knew, and she was fake. The reason why she stopped teaching him how to read was because she didn’t want people finding out that she educated a slave. He, then saw his mistress as a whole different person as she was ever before.
Fredrick knew the consequences of being a slave, he knew that he would never be free and that he needed to prove himself human just like any other person. Fredrick had white playmates that were educated, that knew how to spell and write. He was so determined to share their knowledge that he traded biscuits and bread each day so that they could tutor him. When he got up enough knowledge, he bought himself a popular expensive school book that he could read.
As a young man, He then realized the ignorance he once had. It came to mind that the people that owned him in his childhood were not the people that seemed to be. He saw how stupid he was, and realized that without the knowledge he has today he would have never knew that his owners were treating him wrong and keeping him from liberty,truth, and freedom.
I think he was trying to send a message out to the future readers, saying that even know he is an African American slave, he can still do what every other human being can do. That just because his skin is a different color dosent mean he shouldn’t be free. I think people should look up to him as a mentor or a hero because even though he wasn’t free, he still found ways to get what he wanted.
Clarissa Oraczewski Mr. Williams
ReplyDelete10/20/10
In this Chapter of “A Change Came O’er the Spirit of My Dream” a well known slave learns how to read. It’s a very inspirational reading about this slave and his mistress Mrs. Auld. His owner was very good to him not like other slave owners. She would actually teach him how to read and write. Until one day when everything started to change. She stopped treating him as a human being, and more like a thing.
Mrs. Auld changed as soon as her husband came in the picture. To the slave she was a kind and tender-hearted women but not anymore. Now she started to act like all the other slave owners. Her husband over ruled her about everything. She would lesson to whatever he had to say and she would obey him. The power of her husband ruined this poor slave. Mrs. Auld would not only lesson to her husband, but she would also better whatever he told her to do. Therefore everything the husband said, she would do it ten times worse. Reading was the only pride he had left in his life and Mrs. Auld took it away from him.
The slave wasn’t even trusted in another room with nobody in it. If he was alone they felt like he was secretly reading witch wasn’t acceptable anymore. He would get punished sometimes for actions that he wasn’t even doing. All because of Mrs. Auld’s husband who would control her. The slave didn’t let this bother him. He know new the alphabet and he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in his way
One of the slaves favorite thing to do was to go on errands. While on these errands he would meet these young boys on the streets that would teach him. They would read to him, give him spelling lessons. The slave was very grateful for these kids. All he had to do was give them some food and they would give him some lessons. To the slave, learning was way more important than a piece of bread. Sometimes he would even get taught for free because the kids had pleasure in teaching him. The slave enjoyed every chance he had to be taught.
When the slave was still young all her believed in was that he was a slave for life and there was nothing that he could do about it. He saw no freedom, no fun, no nothing. He was a very sad child growing up because of that but now that he is learning and reading he is a very spiritual person. He believes in freedom now, he knows that someday he is going to be free with no worries.
One of the books that he came across was about slavery. This book changed he’s hole outlook about no freedom. He knew that this day is going to come when he is free and safe. Thanks to those kind kids on the streets just looking for something to do. They don’t realize what kind of impact they have on this slave.
In the chapter, “A Change Came O’er the Spirit of My Dream” a slave tells of his journey of learning to read and write. Fredrick Douglas was owned by a very well known and knowledgeable woman named Mrs. Auld. And although his mistress was considered to be a “good lady,” she only taught him to read and write because her husband encouraged it. But either way, Fredrick Douglas had grasped a talent that he would always benefit from. He believed that this woman would not be like the other slave owners whom abused their slaves but no one can determine the future.
ReplyDeleteAs the chapter continues, Fredrick explains that nature hadn’t intended for one to be a slave nor slaveholder. “One cannot easily forget to love freedom; and it is as hard to cease to respect that natural love in our fellow creatures.” As he had said so many times before, Mrs. Auld was a tender, loving woman but only to those whom she considered was “like her.” He could not grasp why she couldn’t see that he was also a person. “I could talk and sing; I could laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could love and hate. I was human…”
Even though she did teach him to read and write, she hated the fact that he could do such things. He, himself, could easily make her angry by one simple action- reading the newspaper. At first, her anger was censored but as time passed, she unleashed her temper with violent strikes. “I have had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and snatch from my hand such newspaper or book, with something of the wrath and consternation which a traitor might be supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot by some dangerous spy.” But when it came to reading, there were both sides- good and bad- because when Mrs. Auld wasn’t around, Fredrick read about stories of slaves – sometimes real, sometimes fake- had been released into freedom.
Sometimes reading had given him hope that one day he would be free. Other times, in stories such as Behold! Fredrick felt such bitterness, loneliness, out casted and resentment towards others that he felt ashamed in himself for feeling such ways. He also hated that some colored people believe that, “…God requires them to submit to slavery, and to wear their chains with meekness and humility.”
All in all, Fredrick believed that no one should be a slave or slave holder. There should be no such titles. Everyone is human and no one should be treated better or worse. We are all equal.
I believe that this chapter- by itself- is inspirational; as is Fredrick Douglas.
Wesley Pollard 500 Word Essay
ReplyDelete10/27/10 English III
In the eleventh chapter of “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglas, he touched upon his childhood and how he was treated as a human being. He spoke of how kind hearted and gentle his slaver holder, Mrs. Auld, was. She began to teach him as if he was a student instead of her slave. “My mistress—who, as the reader has already seen, had begun to teach me was suddenly checked in her benevolent design, by the strong advice of her husband. In faithful compliance with this advice, the good lady had not only ceased to instruct me, herself, but had set her face as a flint against my learning to read by any means.”
He also spoke about how nature didn't train anyone to become a slave holder, basically explaining why his master was so kind and gentle towards him and other. Also instead of her being just his master and teacher, she acted somewhat as his mother; most slaves were separated from their parents at birth, he says, “It was no easy matter to induce her to think and to feel that the curly-headed boy, who stood by her side, and even leaned on her lap; who was loved by little Tommy, and who loved little Tommy in turn; sustained to her only the relation of a chattel. I was more than that, and she felt me to be more than that. I could talk and sing; I could laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could love and hate. I was human, and she, dear lady, knew and felt me to be so.”
He then goes on to say that his loving, kind-hearted master's soul was then overthrown by her husband's without her even putting up a “mighty struggle”. She then began to hate him, snatching books and newspapers from him as he read. With her husbands advice, she began to think that slavery and education were incompatible. Now if he was away from the family for a small period of time, he was assumed to be reading a book and would be punished. Even though his slave master didn't want him to learn to read, he was determined to learn at any cost.
Once he learned to read, he began to read many speeches from various authors. Until he was able to read, he thought that he was a slave for life. After talking to some religious slaves from the South, they said, “God requires them to submit to slavery, and to wear their chains with meekness and humility.” After more reading he said that “Slave holders, I thought, are only a band of successful robbers, who left their homes and went to Africa for the purpose of stealing and reducing my people to slavery.” He began to detest slavery and the slave holder and also became gloomy and sad because the happy, young, loving boy he once was, was now ready for the “bloody whip”.
Even after all of the things he has been through, he had this to say of his master, “We were both victims to the same overshadowing evil—she, as mistress, I, as slave. I will not censure her harshly; she cannot censure me, for she knows I speak but the truth, and have acted in my opposition to slavery, just as she herself would have acted, in a reverse of circumstances.” Honestly I think Frederick Douglas is one of the most inspirational people ever; in fact when I was younger I would always choose him for my projects because of what he did for slaves, slavery, and himself.
GRADING FOR THIS BLOG POST IS COMPLETE.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter in My Bondage and My Freedom is about Fredrick Douglass tells a story of his journey on how to read and write. His slave owner unlike many others was nice to him, Mrs. Auld taught him to read and write, but only with her husband’s encouragement. “My mistress-- who, as the reader has already seen, had begun to teach me was suddenly checked in her benevolent design, by the strong advice of her husband.” He then goes onto talk about how people were not “prepared” to be slaves. I guess this is why he feels his slave owner is no nice to him and the rest. “Nature has done almost nothing to prepare men and women to be either slaves or slaveholders. Nothing but rigid training, long persisted in, can perfect the character of the one or the other. One cannot easily forget to love freedom; and it is as hard to cease to respect that natural love in our fellow creatures.” He speaks of how his “dear lady” treated him like a person instead of a “brute.” He then talks about to power struggle with her husband in which he won.
ReplyDeleteHe speaks of his arriving in the Auld home. He says he felt happy and content, The Mistress instead of being cruel was a model of perfection, and she was tender and kind. “Her fervent piety and watchful uprightness made it impossible to see her without thinking and feeling--"_that woman is a Christian_." There was neither sorrow nor suffering for which she had not a tear, and there was no innocent joy for which she did not a smile.” He describes her as basically a generous woman that would give to whomever. He then says she becomes very angry. “One needs very little knowledge of moral philosophy, to see _where_ my mistress now landed. She finally became even more violent in her opposition to my learning to read, than was her husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as _well_ as her husband had commanded her, but seemed resolved to better his instruction. Nothing appeared to make my poor mistress--after her turning toward the downward path—angrier, than seeing me, seated in some nook or corner, quietly reading a book or a newspaper.” She began to keep tabs on him, every time she seen him reading she would rush at him and snatch whatever he was reading from his hands. He then began to carry around Webster’s spelling book and whenever able would get spelling lessons from his friends “as he payed bread as his tuition.” He also writes how he used to sit with his white friends and speak about freedom. Of how when they were 21 they would be able to roam about anywhere they wanted, but him he was a slave for life, and that conversation would confuse them. But they always consoled him, always saying that “his day would come, he had just as much right as they did to be free. God didn’t make anyone to be a slave.
When he was thirteen he fully learned to read. And after all the trials and tribulations he still had nice thoughts of his master saying “We were both victims to the same overshadowing evil—she, as mistress, I, as slave. I will not censure her harshly; she cannot censure me, for she knows I speak but the truth, and have acted in my opposition to slavery, just as she herself would have acted, in a reverse of circumstances.”
When I first started reading "A CHANGE CAME O'ER THE SPIRIT OF MY DREAM." Frederick Douglass made it clear that he really appreciated his slave owner Mrs. Auld for being kind to him and taught him how to read and write. He aid she wasn’t confident teaching him maybe for feeling that she wouldn’t be very good or that it wasn’t something that was really needed at first but she realized he was a human like her and taught him what she felt he needed to know. Then he started to explain that enslaving someone isn’t something that comes natural. It takes plenty of practice. “Nature has done almost nothing to prepare men and women to be either slaves or slaveholders. Nothing but rigid training, long persisted in, can perfect the character of the one or the other.” And that when he came in possession of Mrs. Auld she wasn’t really sure how to be a slave owner and that he seemed ore like a friend than property. Se understood that he was a human “I could talk and sing; I could laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could love and hate. I was human, and she, dear lady, knew and felt me to be so. How could she, then, treat me as a brute, without a mighty struggle with all the noble powers of her own soul.” But when she mentioned this to her husband basically called her an idiot that her feelings were innocent and ignorant. “That struggle came, and the will and power of the husband was victorious. Her noble soul was overthrown; but, he that overthrew it did not, himself, escape the consequences.” But clearly his ideals were overthrown and Frederick Douglass learned to read and write anyway. So Frederick Douglass became apart of the family rather than apart of the furniture. Then he further explained how kind she always was. She always had a smile on and was kind to people who wasn’t so happy. “She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach.” He then tells the constant fight between Mrs. Auld and her husband it was clear that it was going to be a fight between the two. Mrs. Auld was going to have to choose between her husband and the mental welfare of the family friend, Frederick Douglass. So she chose to be an even better slave owner, she chose to stop him from reading and being a human. “Nothing appeared to make my poor mistress -- after her turning toward the downward path -- more angry, than seeing me, seated in some nook or corner, quietly reading a book or a newspaper. I have had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and snatch from my hand such newspaper or book, with something of the wrath and consternation which a traitor might be supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot by some dangerous spy.” Frederick Douglass’s world flipped up side down if he sat in a corner he would be watched continually, and given unhappy looks. And if he was in another room for long periods of time he was often blamed for reading a book. But this would not stop him he would continue to learn more with or without there consent. I really liked this story because even when challenged to become ignorant again he still fought.
ReplyDeleteThe historial event topic that I selected from the website eyewitness to history from the 19th Century time period, it’s called A slave’s life. This event is about a young slave girl name Elizabeth or “lizzie”. She was born in virginia around 1818 and the story tell a about her life. When she was about fourteen years old when she was given to her master's oldest son as a wedding present. Not too long after that, the son moved his household to North Carolina where he became the pastor of a small parish. This was the place where she gave birth at age eighteen to her only child - a boy- the result of an unwanted sexual relationship with a white man whom she never named. A few years after that she went back to Virginia and became the slave of her original master’s daughter. Lizzie’s masters in Virginia were going through some bad economical times not Lizzie had learned her sewing skills from her mother, was hired as a seamstress which attracted a large amount of people. Lizzie's life changed when her master told her she could buy her release from slavery for $1,200.00 which is like $27,000 in today's money. Her patrons loaned her the money so her freedom and her son’s were granted in 1855. By 1860, the two had made their way to Washington, D.C. where Lizzie set up shop. Her skills again resulted in a large and influential clientele including Mary Lincoln who hired Lizzie as her personal maid and seamstress.
ReplyDeleteThis event happened because lizzie had heart and passion in what she did. In Addition, lizzie went through a hard childhood. She was the only child and she grew up with only her mother. Lizzie was tired of being treated like garage and tired of everyone taking advantage of her and treating her wrong. That is why she decided to be greater then what everyone else thought she could be.
I am convinced that this was a good slave experience because the “white people” respected her more when they saw that a female slave bought her son’s and her freedom and then opened up her own business and she was successful at it. I am pretty sure that other slaves were motivated and expired by her and what she did and that’s how we had so many courageous African-American such as Marthin luther king jr, Rosa park, Obama, ect. Lizzie’s actions did not only expire other slaves but it also expired people like me.
This article supports my thesis because I stated that slave owners should treat their slaves better. For example, if lizzie’s master wouldn’t have raped her he wouldn’t have the kid and that is more people to feed. If slave owners treat their slaves right they would save more money and if they would feed them right and give them a comfortable bed the slaves would work better and the slave owner would be making more money than he would by treating the slaves badly.
In this chapter I have read about “ A Change Came O’er the Spirit of My Dream. The slave was taught how to read. The story was interesting and sad. The mistress was very nice to the slave.She treated him like he was part of their family. She treated him with respect and she made him worked on his education. She was more strict on his education then anything. Until one day she started to change. The mistress stop showing him respect, and stop treating him like a human being
ReplyDeleteMrs. Auld had got married. As soon as her husband step foot in her house Mrs. Auld started to act different towards the slave. She change her whole perspective towards him. She was kind and nice to him anymore. Mrs. Auld had change into the rest of the slave owner even worst then some of them. The only reason why she change is, because she wanted to impress her husband so bad that she would do anything to make the slave feel bad. Even if she didn't mean to she wanted to have her husband happy than the slave.
The slave( Frederick Douglas) was not allowed to be alone in the room by himself. If he was alone he would get punish by the mistress not , because she wanted to it was her husband idea. Her husband the one who mad her take away his reading just so the slave can be miserable but it still didn’t stop the slave to read. He knew all his alphabets and he wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way either.
Frederick Douglas loves to go on errands, because he would talk to the little boys on the street to help him read something. They would tutor him in reading and spelling. The only thing Frederick had to was to give them so food which was bread. He discovered how if you help someone they will help you back in a nice way. Since, Frederick was so nice to him they wouldn’t charge him with anything. They love tutoring him they knew how much it mean to him to read and spell.
Frederick Douglas use to think that he would never be free when he was growing up, because people like Mrs. Auld husband made his life miserable made him stop believing that he would be free some day. Until the boys on the street help him learn how to read and spell. They knew deep inside that they did a good deed for the slave. They didn't even treat him like a slave they treated him with respect like he was one of them. They help Frederick to become who he is right now.
Frederick Douglas came across a book reading about a slave. That book change his whole perspective on life he not the same little boy he was. He had grown up and realize that it is a way out and that he won’t be a slave for ever.
Patrick Enley
ReplyDeleteIn the story, “My Bondage and My Freedom,” it speaks about how Frederick Douglas had been given a few advantages, but in turn had become disadvantages. The advantages that he had been so gifted with learning were how to read and write, which not even a lot of slave masters had known how to do. It speaks about much perilous tribulations that this slave had endured, and had conquered, and failed. But his mistress was the one to teach him. One of the best things that could have happened to him was her, she treated the slave like he was a real person. Then further on into the passage it speaks of a woman named Mrs. Auld. But from this woman’s perspective, slaves were suppose to remain uneducated, and kept an eye on this slave, to make sure that he wasn’t plotting, not trying anything “funny.” This slave was singled out, and if he was caught alone, it was assumed that he was reading a book or newspaper, which infuriated Mrs. Auld. But Frederick Douglas was very clever, and figured a way around the whole his books being removed system. He had become one of the white youth’s playmates, and would bribe the playmates into giving him spelling lessons, or any lessons in general. But what would seem like a delicate subject to slaves, Frederick constantly brought up, talking to the white youth. It wasn’t in a sense to make them feel bad, but to give them an understanding of his life, and a life that they will never understand. One of his playmates defended the slave system, while another one consulted him, and comforted him about the harsh life that he was enduring through. Frederick Douglas had a realization though, that no matter what he was a slave and that his bondage would shackle him, and make him unable to control who he would become. But Frederick had come to see a powerful action happening, which a slave was attempting to escape. The slave master shot many questions at the slave, but were shot down, by inquiring the answers the slave master had heard. After the argument, and being vanquished, the slave master emancipates the slave, and gives him best wishes for wealth and prosperity. This chapter is extremely powerful, and demonstrates every feeling that this slave was feeling while captured.