Topic for Argumentative Essay and Central Argument

Why is reading comprehension a statement about freedom? This is my topic because this is the one of two  that stuck out to me that most and the one I thought I could handle best. My central argument for this essay will be how ignorance is strength. The slaves ignorance to knowledge is used to the slaveholders strength.

Comments and Questions for Chapter 11 and Appendix

In the beginning of Chapter 11 why does Frederick bag on the underground railroad for being outspoken about slavery?
How is the union heavenly if there are all these problems that are happened?

I like how once Frederick is free and comfortable  he writes a letter to his fiance saying to come up to New York so that they can be married.
I find it interesting how the parody at the end of the appendix is stating how great the Union is when really the whites are being hypocrites and how many people probably loved this parody.

Chapter 11 and Appendix

He is very kind to not mention the names of people who have helped him or how he managed to make his great escape. It probably took quite a bit of self control for him to not publish the names of these people. I thought that Frederick was willing giving his master the money he made but apparently not. It is a good thing that even though being a slave he could carry the responsibility of a freeman and also manage to save up a few bucks in the process. I find it very sad that just because he goes out with the company he was hired for, he loses the privilege of finding his own work and such although Master Hugh is still paid. At least, Frederick wasn't harmed physically even though he was threatened after not turning in some money but hey, he goes out and finds more work in which he can turn in 8 dollars at the end of the week. I find it joyous that he could make a successful escape, however, it is also depressing the way he feels about leaving his friends. I want you to think of your best friend. You just found out they were moving that day and your friend has known for a couple of months now. Your friend has gotten all their work and paperwork filled out to leave in the middle of the school year. How you would feel is probably close to how Frederick feels. That is really neat that he finds himself comfortable speaking in front of white men. I think that the last two paragraphs finish up the story nicely and tie together all loose ends. I never would of thought of two kinds of Chirstianity, the Christianity of America and the Christianity of Christ. I find the parody interesting in the fact that the author is stating what the white people are saying, which is, oh look at us doing all this good stuff and hey you nigger what did you did do that for along with a few new valleys and ridges from a cowskin cord all here in this oh so great union. Hey look at us praying for greatness of the Union and what are you doing nigger, stealing food from me I'll teach you, say goodbye to your family. The parody is explaining how hypocritic the whites were and it makes me glad that our nation finally decided to get rid of it even if we have to pay off the debt from the civil war when we get out of high school.

Comments and Questions for Chapter 10

Why is chapter 10 so much longer than the other chapters?
What is Lynch Law and what does it do? (Lynch Law http://www.answers.com/topic/lynching?method=26&initiator=WANS)

I am so glad that his mistress heart is softened once again but sorry of the pain Frederick went through to receive her affection.
I am happy that he was never severely whipped after Mr. Covey's farm even though he was in several fights but that probably encouraged the slaveholders to leave him alone after getting beat up instead of the slave getting whipped.

Second Part of Chapter 10

I find it very enjoyable that the slaves receive six days of freedom but the way the slaveholders trick them into doing their work happily is so treacherous. I do not like Mr. Hopkins. He is way to unpleasant in the treatment of the slaves. Although, the way Frederick is going off on what a slave did to deserve a whipping I think that he might be talking about all slaveholders. His ability to read is helping him to become more appreciated because the other slaves can learn something from him, so he becomes better acquainted with them. That is neat to me that they wanted to learn because maybe that is why the US is constantly being passed up by other countries. The students here do not want to learn, they mainly, in my opinion, just come for a neat certain class or to socialize with their friends. These slaves wanted to learn because they almost all had starved minds, like your stomach after school when you had no breakfast and no lunch. That would take quite a bit of will power to overcome and face the fears of what would happen to them. It was smart of Frederick to make a copy of a master's note giving the slave permission to go, nobody would ever suspect because their minds are starved. It is really sad that the slaves planning to escape were caught but at least Douglass was sent back to his master and mistress in Baltimore. I think that the ending is by far the best part of this chapter becuase he doesn't have to give his master the money he earns but he does in the hope of Master Hugh setting him free.

Comments and Questions for Chapters 8, 9

Chapter 8
Was he happy to go back and be appraised like some piece of old junk? Why or why not?
I would really like to hear the song put to music or sung by the slaves.

Chapter 9
If you have a conversion to Christianity, wouldn't that mean that you would be nicer to your slaves instead of meaner?
I think that it is neat that in his nine months at Colonel Lloyd's plantation and his twelve months with Mr. Covey he was still as stubborn as ever and refused to do things the masters way no matter how severe the punishment.

Chapters 8, 9 and to page 40 of Chapter 10

I think that it is terrible about what happened to the grandma. She serviced the master throughout her youth and her old age, also giving to him children and then grandchildren. I cannot believe that he would do that to her. She took care of him and he did not release her after all she did. Then even his successors just abandoned her to a cabin in the woods to die. It is sad that he thinks he will miss all the lessons from the little Baltimore boys instead of his master and mistress. I also figured out as to why I was confused about how he was able to tell all these stories about different places when he only had two masters. He did only have two masters but his two masters sent him to live at other places under other white men and women. I would think that the transition from being well fed to being well starved was very hard but if he worked in the kitchen why couldn't he just steal some food? He might have been too scared to anyhow, just a thought. When the one white man was meeting with the slaves to teach them to read the New Testament, I am curious if Douglass impressed anybody by proving that he could read. It is actually a great blessing for Douglass to go to Mr. Covey's farm. It will be nice for Captain Auld to have him go away and be broken. Mr. Covey likes it because then he has someone to take out his anger on, sadly, and a free labor hand that he is getting paid to punish. So, it is all around a winning situation. For the first part that we had to read, there is some interesting stories. Although, why is it longer than a few pages unlike the other chapters? When Douglass is talking about his first whipping, one of my first thought is that he will eventually be broken. I am again curious as to why he practices deception and why is that his forte? Then again, that would explain why he likes to sneak up on the workers and why he spies on them. I am sorry that Caroline was put through the sufferings of having many unwanted children and being raped as well. I find it terrible that he is broken. At the end of the next page, page 38, I am glad that he can still think and after how exhausted he is I find it amazing that he could think clearly. I cannot believe that there is a root that will help you to not get whipped as long as you have it. It is really neat. I think that his belief in the root probably allowed him fight back and gave him some courage to do so. Hey, it worked though so he was never whipped again or never had Mr. Covey lay a single finger on him for the remaining six months.

Comments and Questions for Chapters 5, 6, and 7

Chapter 5
Why would anybody rather be hanged in England than die a natural death in Ireland?
I find it really neat that he is so amazed at the city of Annapolis with all its buildings.

Chapter 6
What compelled her to teach him? Was it because he was so helpless?
It is so true that learning will make a slave discontented and unhappy because that happened to him.

Chapter 7
Why does he suddenly have it so easy and seemingly the freedom to walk around especially at the wharf of Mr. Waters or even the freedom to stay home alone?
I am glad that he not only teaches himself how to read but how to write as well.

Chapters 5, 6, and 7 Do slaves deserve to have human rights?

His connection to Colonel Lloyd's son Daniel is really neat. When I first read it thought that, that was the reason he only had two masters his whole life. It does not make sense to me that someone would rather be hanged in England than die a natural death in Ireland. I would rather die a natural death then to be killed at someone elses hand. He at least has kept his mind intact so that he can feel awe at how large the capital of the State is and even better that it is more imposing than the Great House Farm. I am glad that he has such a happy new start in Baltimore where the wife brightens up his day but it is so sad that he has never seen such happiness before. I would never think of a slave as an egotistical because there would be too much at risk for them. In Chapter 6, he sounds as if he is in love with his new mistress because she treated him as an equal and also the way he talks about her with her face made of heavenly smiles and voice like tranquil music. Following this great happiness there is a terrible tragedy, his mistress teaches him the A, B, Cs and then to spell three or four letter words. His master disagrees because he says that learning would spoil the best slave in the world. It is really neat that he could understand how white man could enslave the black man. It was because they kept the slaves uneducated so that they have no knowledge of anything so how can they revolt or even stand up for themselves. His path to freedom  was by learning and teaching himself. I applaud him for teaching himself. It is also terribly sad that even though Douglass was so kindly blessed to have nice masters, others were less fortunate, like the two girls across the street. Mrs. Hamilton obviously did not think of them as people, just as animals that were born to do all of her work and take her punishments like ignorant, mindless animals that could understand and do. At least in Chapter 7, his mistress thought of him as another human being but his master destroyed that by telling her that she cannot teach him. Following up with that a few months later, she no longer treated him like a human but like a chattel. It is so terribly sad the change that occurred in his mistress, here was this nice kind-hearted women with a heart that turned to stone. I am so glad that he was fortunate to have a mistress nice enough to begin teaching him. Once he got a taste of it there was no stopping him from trying to get the rest. For example, think of  your favorite food, now imagine that you only get one bite of it and no more. I imagine that is how Douglass feels. I applaud him for finding a way to teach himself to read and how to get help from the white boys around the neighborhood. I am glad that he found something he can read and reread with unabated interest, but this is followed with another sad part. He thinks that learning to read is more of a curse than a blessing because he can understand why he is there and there in the wretched conditions. There is no way for him to tell anyone or to get out of it. For us, it is like knowing this big secret but you can't tell anybody because if you do you will have your tongue cut off. You just have to tell someone though. He finds hope. That is good. I am very glad that he decides to try to find a way to escape and even more so after discovering that he will learn to write. He finally learns. Hooray! That is really neat although it makes me curious as to if the people in school here in the US would teach themselves to read and write or would they be ignorant and stay uneducated slaves.There is one point in Chapter 5 that I believe is arguing for the enslaved people's rights. It is the last paragraph in this chapter. Frederick Douglass is saying that he is a human because he believes in God. It was the word of faith and the spirit of hope that helped him through the foul embrace of the dark hours of slavery. Wouldn't this give him human rights because he believes in God like the rest of the people inhabiting America? He is also arguing for humanity in Chapter 7 in the second paragraph on page 27. They aren't humans because they aren't like the rest of us. They were stolen from the homes in Africa by successful robbers and then put to work in a strange land which reduced them to not being human any more because of the way they are.

The Middle Passage

Would I jump off the ship Amistad? Yes, I would because it is just so sad the hardships that they went through just to be rewarded with more work. I would rather die a natural self inflicted death of drowning than to be whipped or shot for doing something wrong that I may or may not have done. My reaction to all of this is that it is so sad and terrible. I cannot believe that they would just tie them up but they did what they thought they had to do to get a profit. When they served them food, that was the worst. All they did was ladle some  out to like every other one. They were so greedy that the Africans just became savage beasts. It must have been like some reaction to the conditions that brought out the survival instinct in each person.

Chapters 2, 3, and 4

Oh wow, I cannot just imagine having hundreds and hundreds of slaves all working all the time in the fields. That number just seems impossible to me. If there is around three to four hundred slaves on a plantation with at least 20, if not more plantations, which puts the number of slaves that his master owns is at least 8000. Mr. Severe's work as an overseer does not seem pleasant to the slaves at all. I feel so sorry for them, even though that was a long time ago. I am glad that he died and his career as an overseer was short. That is amazing that there could be such an honor or privilege even on the fields of work for the slaves. I cannot believe that anybody could mistake the songs of the slaves as their way to vent their happiness. It is obviously how to vent their sadness. Has anybody ever seen the VCR movie, The Prince of Egypt? The slaves there would sing to express their hatred for the Egyptians and sing to express their sorrows. I am sorry for all the slaves who had to endure these terrible hardships. Well I suppose that is one way of keeping the starving slaves out of your lush garden full of delectable fruits. That is terrible though, wouldn't you be able to tell you were starving them? The way these slaves were treated is terrible. They were probably always afraid for their lives, of getting whipped, or getting sold. I wonder if Mr. Gore is anything like Mr. Severe? Mr. Gore probably likes to whip people and see the blood. "His presence was painful." That one four word sentence can tell you quite a bit about this man. From the sound of it, it sounds like the worst. I wonder how Mr. Gore would react if the roles were switched? That is such a horrid thing that he would shoot down a man that escaped into the river to escape a lashing. He definately has my vote to keep the name as Mr. Gore or to even change it to something like Mr. Mercy because he shows no mercy. That is even worse that the little white boys would say that it only cost a cent to kill and bury slave. These people had no sense of what pain and suffering they were causing. I would like to see how the slave owners and overseers would like it if they were put to work under the "niggers" with the same conditions and everything. Maybe then they would be nicer to them.

What is your reaction to Chapter 1?

I think that the first chapter is the start of a very long sad story. Of course, it is going to be a sad story because this is Mr. Boyd's class. His classes almost always have to do with death and many other sad things. He first of all doesn't even know how old he is. Also, he has no clue to who is his father. His mother was taken away from him at an early age, too bad he isn't like animals who when they are taken away from their parents die within the next couple of days. They hardly ever see each other except for sometimes at night when she walks like 12 miles just to see him, on top of two days labour. She died one day never gave him a hint as to who his father was. It was whispered that it was his master. Which at least if he was then he has someone secretly looking out for him. The saddest part is when Aunt Hester is whipped to death after having to strip from the waist up and being called a d--d b---h.