Slaves Narratives: Comparison of two books (Book Review Sample)

Slave Narratives Name Institution Slave Narratives This essay compares and contrasts the slave narratives in the Douglass and Northup works. Both the books are basically the autobiographies of the Northup and Douglas. Both books share the common thing: the slave trade and brutality of the slaves. The struggle of slaves for freedom is also evident from the books. The books describe the lives of Black American who were treated as salves for thousands of years. Douglass was separated from his mother and even don't know about his father (Frederick, D. , 2009). However, it was expected that Anthony (a whit man), who is the assistant of Lloyd is his father. Lloyd is the owner of thousands of slaves and his plantation was named as "Great House Farm”. Life at this farm is incredible as the slaves are being treated as animals and they had to work a lot without any recognition and little food. Slaves had to follow each and every rule by their white masters and those who break the rules had to bear the wrath of their masters. Life of Douglass was also same as like other slaves. During his childhood, he worked in a house, however, at the age of 7, he was sent to Baltimore, where life was bit easier as his master completely neglected the slaves. Sophia who was the wife of his master was kind to him and she started teaching her but she was stopped by her husband. According to Hugh, slaves are not meant for education. He learns the curse of slavery and soon escaped to the North. Douglass soon became cruel as he was being appointed by the Covey. Douglass has to face violent tactics from his fellow white workers. He saved money with the passage of time and escaped to New York and he had to change his name and identity as well and he joined the abolitionist movement. Northup's "Twelve Years a Slave" is also an autobiography of a black men who was born was free man was working with father at forms. He earned a degree and also play violin as well. He married to Anne at the age of twenty one and had three children later. However, he was offered to work at circus by white men on the condition of travelling to Washington (Northup, S., & Wilson, D. 2013). He accepted the offer and miseries started. He was captivated by the Burch; a slave trader. Northup raised his voice of freedom against his master but was beaten and threatened to be killed. After sometimes, he was sold to Ford along with a slave girl. Now, he was named as Platt and working in the Louisiana in the lumbe...