Frederick Douglass - Paper #1 Lit One
Class: Lit One: Literary Interpretations
Topic: Frederick Douglass' Narrative, focusing on his Apostrophe
Grade: B+
Kathryn Downward
Prof. Susan Gillman
Lit One - TA: Victoria
January 23, 2006
White Sails: Apostrophe Period
Douglass’ 1845 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass has many themes, but the most forceful focuses on the idea of freedom. His apostrophe to the ships on Chesapeake Bay, pages 388 and 389, is a focal point of his yearning for freedom. Through his voice, both religious and secular, the images he portrays, and his diction, Douglass shows the importance of freedom to himself as well as its subjectivity.
As it is in most slave narratives, freedom is an important idea to Douglass. In the apostrophe he talks in both a religious voice, in which he speaks to god, uses religious references and shows emotion, and in a more secular voice, a tone factual and straight forward, distanced and with little emotion at all. Through these voices he shows his wish to be free. In the beginning half of the passage, Douglass speaks about the ships with an almost angelic quality, saying they are “robed in purest white” (388); he also uses this spiritual and eloquent voice, the voice of his emotion, to give a contrast between his imprisonment within slavery, and the freedom so close to him yet so far. “You move merrily before the gentle gale,” he says, “and I sadly before the bloody whip!”(388). His use of emotion in these words shows the utter frustration he gets from his inability to break free. In the later half of the apostrophe, he shifts into the more secular voice. “And, come what will, I am not the only slave in the world. Why should I fret? I can bear as much as any of them,” (389) Douglass says, straightforward and honest. Emotion does not reach into his thoughts, only the fact that he must, to live life, escape. The opposition between the emotional and factual voice, the religious and the secular, allow the reader to see into Douglass’ thoughts about the freedom he so richly aches for. By showing both sides of his internal struggle, we know that he wishes for it for more than one reason and that it is a necessity for his life. Douglass also uses powerful images to show the reader his longing for freedom. “You are freedom’s swift-winged angels, that fly around the world,” (388) he says of the ships. “I am confined in bands of iron!” (388) Douglass’ portrayal of the ships as free flying angels, verses his tied down nature gives a vivid image, showing that even ships are freer than he is; wood and glue are more able to live than flesh and blood of man. Another bold image comes a short while later in the passage. “The glad ship is gone… I am left in the hottest hell,” (388) he says, juxtaposing the theoretical happiness of the free ship with the hell of his internment. Being able to leave is the basic freedom. A third image, striking as the rest, is shown when he talks yet again about the ships. “Those beautiful vessels, robed in purest white, so delightful to the eye of freemen, were to me so many shrouded ghosts…” (388). Douglass again uses the religious allusion to the ships as angels, showing the beauty to others as danger and heartbreak to himself; pointing out the “wretched condition” (388) he was in. In addition to his use of voice and image, Douglass employs diction to show how far he is away from what he wants most in life. “I have often” he says, “…stood all alone upon the lofty banks of that noble bay, and traced, with saddening heart and tearful eye, the countless number of sails moving off…” (388). In this one brief look into his life, this mid-length sentence, Douglass tells of his wish for freedom, and the lack thereof, several times. His standing alone is the first slavery he mentions. Not allowed company, he is made to be alone. Being unable to follow the ships, watching them leave, and leave him behind, is painful, and he watches with sad eyes and aching heart as they drift by. The large number of ships “moving off” are yet another use of diction, showing the closeness of freedom and the impossibility of freedom at the same time; Chesapeake Bay was “ever white with sails” (388) and yet Douglass was allowed on none. Such was his slavery, and all slavery. Douglass’ use of voice, image and diction show his yearning for freedom, and the frustration from it being so obtainable.
Yet, freedom Douglass also points out, perhaps unintentionally, is subjective. One mans idea of freedom may be another’s everyday life. In the apostrophe, Douglass talks of what he will do when he escapes. He says he will escape by water, northward, and when he gets to the head of the Chesapeake Bay, he will “walk straight through Delaware into Pennsylvania… I shall not be required to have a pass; I can travel without being disturbed” (389). To any other man, to free men specifically, walking about without a piece of paper claiming you are free seems like an everyday occurrence, a simple human right; to a slave, being able to walk freely, without being bothered is an unfamiliar occurrence, one that is greatly looked forward to and wished for. Later in the passage, Douglass claims that he is “but a boy, and all boys are bound to someone,” (389), justifying his enslavement to a certain degree. To be sure, all young boys are bound to someone in a certain sense, perhaps that of a parent or nanny, a schoolmaster or supervisor, but Douglass’ “bound” is different. Douglass’ bound is the binding of slavery. Under slavery, a “master”, an ultimate overseer, binds him. A regular child, or teenager as Douglass was approximately 15 or 16 at the time, a non-slave, would simply be “bound” in the sense that he was to respect and pay attention to an elder. In this case, the idea of freedom is subjective. So too is it subjective when Douglass talks about the freedom of the ships. “You are loosed from your moorings, and are free… You move merrily before the gentle gale” (388) he says, comparing the ships’ freedom to the slavery he is subject to. In comparison, the ships are indeed free, but within their own context, there are just as much slaves as Douglass. In any other framework but a literary one, the ships would be nothing but their wood and sails, however by addressing them, Douglass personifies them. In doing so, he provides a basis for comparison - the freedom of the ships and the lack thereof as opposed to the freedom of a slave. Just as a slave is worked without stop, and just as a slave is made to do nothing but that work, the angelic ships Douglass describes are made to do nothing but sail, and do so northward. The only freedom they receive is that in the mind of our narrator and his apostrophe. To Douglass, the freedom they have, sailing along the Bay and northward, is greater than his. All ideas of freedom vary, from the smallest child to oldest man; in every instance, freedom is in the eye of the beholder.
Through his vivid language, Douglass portrays his longing for freedom and its closeness, while showing just as well how difficult it is to obtain. His language flowers and gives rise to his beautiful imagery, that of angels and ghosts amongst ships and water. Yet, his freedom is not the freedom of everyone. His lies to the north, in a slave free environment where he can be his own master; another’s freedom may lie simply in the idea of setting sail into the sunset. Freedom as an idea is too broad to give definition to, though the hunger for it is palatable and Douglass shows in his apostrophe just how hard it is to tie down.
"Kathryn -
You do an excellent job of stating a clear thesis and arguing your point throughout the paper. You choose helpful quotes to use as evidence, and you do a great job of keeping close to the passage while still concluding with a larger claim about freedom. You could ass a sentence to your thesis about how the devices have their significance.
I suggest that for your next paper, you focus on breaking large paragraphs iinto more manageable, organized chunks. For example, paragraph #2 in this paper could be 3 separate paragraphs - 1 on voice, 1 on imagery, and 1 on diction. This will help you to articulate more precisely how each thing works in the text; particularly as you focus on writing a clear topic sentence (like a little mini-thesis) for each one.
Good work!
-Veronica"
Topic: Frederick Douglass' Narrative, focusing on his Apostrophe
Grade: B+
Kathryn Downward
Prof. Susan Gillman
Lit One - TA: Victoria
January 23, 2006
White Sails: Apostrophe Period
Douglass’ 1845 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass has many themes, but the most forceful focuses on the idea of freedom. His apostrophe to the ships on Chesapeake Bay, pages 388 and 389, is a focal point of his yearning for freedom. Through his voice, both religious and secular, the images he portrays, and his diction, Douglass shows the importance of freedom to himself as well as its subjectivity.
As it is in most slave narratives, freedom is an important idea to Douglass. In the apostrophe he talks in both a religious voice, in which he speaks to god, uses religious references and shows emotion, and in a more secular voice, a tone factual and straight forward, distanced and with little emotion at all. Through these voices he shows his wish to be free. In the beginning half of the passage, Douglass speaks about the ships with an almost angelic quality, saying they are “robed in purest white” (388); he also uses this spiritual and eloquent voice, the voice of his emotion, to give a contrast between his imprisonment within slavery, and the freedom so close to him yet so far. “You move merrily before the gentle gale,” he says, “and I sadly before the bloody whip!”(388). His use of emotion in these words shows the utter frustration he gets from his inability to break free. In the later half of the apostrophe, he shifts into the more secular voice. “And, come what will, I am not the only slave in the world. Why should I fret? I can bear as much as any of them,” (389) Douglass says, straightforward and honest. Emotion does not reach into his thoughts, only the fact that he must, to live life, escape. The opposition between the emotional and factual voice, the religious and the secular, allow the reader to see into Douglass’ thoughts about the freedom he so richly aches for. By showing both sides of his internal struggle, we know that he wishes for it for more than one reason and that it is a necessity for his life. Douglass also uses powerful images to show the reader his longing for freedom. “You are freedom’s swift-winged angels, that fly around the world,” (388) he says of the ships. “I am confined in bands of iron!” (388) Douglass’ portrayal of the ships as free flying angels, verses his tied down nature gives a vivid image, showing that even ships are freer than he is; wood and glue are more able to live than flesh and blood of man. Another bold image comes a short while later in the passage. “The glad ship is gone… I am left in the hottest hell,” (388) he says, juxtaposing the theoretical happiness of the free ship with the hell of his internment. Being able to leave is the basic freedom. A third image, striking as the rest, is shown when he talks yet again about the ships. “Those beautiful vessels, robed in purest white, so delightful to the eye of freemen, were to me so many shrouded ghosts…” (388). Douglass again uses the religious allusion to the ships as angels, showing the beauty to others as danger and heartbreak to himself; pointing out the “wretched condition” (388) he was in. In addition to his use of voice and image, Douglass employs diction to show how far he is away from what he wants most in life. “I have often” he says, “…stood all alone upon the lofty banks of that noble bay, and traced, with saddening heart and tearful eye, the countless number of sails moving off…” (388). In this one brief look into his life, this mid-length sentence, Douglass tells of his wish for freedom, and the lack thereof, several times. His standing alone is the first slavery he mentions. Not allowed company, he is made to be alone. Being unable to follow the ships, watching them leave, and leave him behind, is painful, and he watches with sad eyes and aching heart as they drift by. The large number of ships “moving off” are yet another use of diction, showing the closeness of freedom and the impossibility of freedom at the same time; Chesapeake Bay was “ever white with sails” (388) and yet Douglass was allowed on none. Such was his slavery, and all slavery. Douglass’ use of voice, image and diction show his yearning for freedom, and the frustration from it being so obtainable.
Yet, freedom Douglass also points out, perhaps unintentionally, is subjective. One mans idea of freedom may be another’s everyday life. In the apostrophe, Douglass talks of what he will do when he escapes. He says he will escape by water, northward, and when he gets to the head of the Chesapeake Bay, he will “walk straight through Delaware into Pennsylvania… I shall not be required to have a pass; I can travel without being disturbed” (389). To any other man, to free men specifically, walking about without a piece of paper claiming you are free seems like an everyday occurrence, a simple human right; to a slave, being able to walk freely, without being bothered is an unfamiliar occurrence, one that is greatly looked forward to and wished for. Later in the passage, Douglass claims that he is “but a boy, and all boys are bound to someone,” (389), justifying his enslavement to a certain degree. To be sure, all young boys are bound to someone in a certain sense, perhaps that of a parent or nanny, a schoolmaster or supervisor, but Douglass’ “bound” is different. Douglass’ bound is the binding of slavery. Under slavery, a “master”, an ultimate overseer, binds him. A regular child, or teenager as Douglass was approximately 15 or 16 at the time, a non-slave, would simply be “bound” in the sense that he was to respect and pay attention to an elder. In this case, the idea of freedom is subjective. So too is it subjective when Douglass talks about the freedom of the ships. “You are loosed from your moorings, and are free… You move merrily before the gentle gale” (388) he says, comparing the ships’ freedom to the slavery he is subject to. In comparison, the ships are indeed free, but within their own context, there are just as much slaves as Douglass. In any other framework but a literary one, the ships would be nothing but their wood and sails, however by addressing them, Douglass personifies them. In doing so, he provides a basis for comparison - the freedom of the ships and the lack thereof as opposed to the freedom of a slave. Just as a slave is worked without stop, and just as a slave is made to do nothing but that work, the angelic ships Douglass describes are made to do nothing but sail, and do so northward. The only freedom they receive is that in the mind of our narrator and his apostrophe. To Douglass, the freedom they have, sailing along the Bay and northward, is greater than his. All ideas of freedom vary, from the smallest child to oldest man; in every instance, freedom is in the eye of the beholder.
Through his vivid language, Douglass portrays his longing for freedom and its closeness, while showing just as well how difficult it is to obtain. His language flowers and gives rise to his beautiful imagery, that of angels and ghosts amongst ships and water. Yet, his freedom is not the freedom of everyone. His lies to the north, in a slave free environment where he can be his own master; another’s freedom may lie simply in the idea of setting sail into the sunset. Freedom as an idea is too broad to give definition to, though the hunger for it is palatable and Douglass shows in his apostrophe just how hard it is to tie down.
"Kathryn -
You do an excellent job of stating a clear thesis and arguing your point throughout the paper. You choose helpful quotes to use as evidence, and you do a great job of keeping close to the passage while still concluding with a larger claim about freedom. You could ass a sentence to your thesis about how the devices have their significance.
I suggest that for your next paper, you focus on breaking large paragraphs iinto more manageable, organized chunks. For example, paragraph #2 in this paper could be 3 separate paragraphs - 1 on voice, 1 on imagery, and 1 on diction. This will help you to articulate more precisely how each thing works in the text; particularly as you focus on writing a clear topic sentence (like a little mini-thesis) for each one.
Good work!
-Veronica"