Persuasive writing (Research Paper Sample)

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Professor
Literature
09/04/2014
Fredrick Douglas: Psychology Critical Lens
Introduction
Fredrick Douglas' autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave, captures personal experience with a dehumanizing system of slavery. Douglas, the narrator and protagonist, undergoes tremendous transformations that aptly fit several psychoanalytic concepts. Born a slave to a black woman, unknown father, and unspecified date, he gradually transformed to one of the biggest African American voices championing full emancipation of black people. The journey of his life is an arduous one, often surmounting improbable odds. At one point, he appears amiable and rational but as situations change, he was capable of violence. In spite of his obvious achievements as represented in the autobiography, this paper will not attempt to idealize the man who became synonymous with emancipation struggles. Instead, it will analyze the man using psychology as the critical lens. The paper will demonstrate that Douglas, as the narrator and protagonist in his autobiography, experienced psychological dynamics that, consciously and unconsciously, shaped his character traits.
Character Analysis through Psychology Lens
At the beginning, Douglas was uneducated and naïve. The autobiography traces his life journey that starts with uneducated little boy with no schooling or enviable chances of formal education. Like many slaves born around the same time, his masters had predestined his fate. He was to spend his life in servitude, either in the farm or in kitchen. He experiences identity crisis because of his mixed heritage. His mother was a black slave and his father an unknown white master. This duality set the stage for an identity crisis that shaped the kind of man Douglas was to become. Slavery conspired to deny slaves some critical personal information to deprive them identity (Chesebrough 24). Additionally, the system treated slaves like commodities. Douglas is separated from his mother at the age of four, depriving him the benefits of family support. The lack of identity would diminish self-awareness and perpetuate the status quo in which slaves worked subserviently without demands.
The psychoanalytic concept of sublimation becomes particularly important in understanding Douglas' character. According to Martin, sublimation normalizes certain vices and makes them acceptable (34). Douglas narrates his upbringing as a naïve and ignorant boy satisfied with happenings around him. Though he sometimes got into trouble as a young boy, the reader can only interpret it in the context of growing up, just like any other kid. Sublimation comes in the form in which the society has made slavery acceptable, in spite of its dehumanizing attribute. As a young boy, Douglas encounters a form of socialization that did not question oppression. The whipping of slaves by their masters was as normal as selling them to the highest bidder. Working conditions were demonizing and blacks did not get the basics of life's dignity. Sleeping in sacks, deprivation of food, whipping, and insults were just some of the vices that, through sublimation, slavery had normalized. It took Douglas up to his teenage years to feel some rebelliousness against the system. Like the other slaves, he had accepted slavery as an unchangeable fact.
However, Douglas' journey was about exposing and defeating the sublimation that had normalized vices and made them a way of life. His naivety disappeared and gave way to stubbornness and rebelliousness. His pursuit for identity propelled him to uncharted grounds against a system deeply entrenched in America's psyche. Through sheer stubbornness, courage, and unyielding sense of justice, he stood up against a system that had subdued many before him. Ordinarily, his recalcitrance would have put him into an early grave. His sojourn to work to the city for Hugh Auld exposed him to some form of liberty. He tested education and the prospects of reading enthralled him. His master's wife, Sophia Auld taught him basic grammar at the age of seven. Fearing what education could do to a slave's mind, Hugh Auld ordered it stopped. Douglas hunger for knowledge became evident. He would exchange food for reading lessons. These close interactions with white children demystified the white man.
Sexuality as a psychoanalytic concept plays out in several occasions in Douglas' life. Slavery expected Douglas to perform masculine jobs that required great physical energy. He is not just a product of this sexuality caricature but also a witness to sexual harassment. His father was a white master who forced his mother into sex. Douglas is therefore a product of rape. By witnessing his aunt's harassment, he becomes deeply aware of how sexuality played out in shaping slavery. Caroline, a black slave woman, was a victim of sex through coercion. Douglas Aunt' sexual appeal became a source of constant harassment from his master who was a sex pest. He narrates the case of a young black slave, who, after repeated flogging by her master's wife, succumbed to injuries. He became more stubborn and averse to injustice. In his reflections as a free man, he cites oppression based on sexuality as one of his biggest drive against slavery.
Douglas was sometimes erratic, others rational and thoughtful. A keen and critical examination of Douglas illustrates that he was a man not immune to influence by his id, superego, and ego. According to Rice, ego is instinctive and often works without consideration. Superego is the conscious realization of societal values and ego influences human attempts to balance instinctive actions from id with reality (11). Douglas operates at the three levels in different occasions and events in his life. In more than one occasion, he operates on his id, oblivious of the grief and danger that he would invite. In spite of his patience and belief in nonviolence, he reacts instinctively on several occasions. He engages in a fistfight with Covey, his master, oblivious of the dangers of more whipping and even death. As a teenage, his stubbornness is capricious and dangerous. However, Brockmeier, Jens, and Donal exonerate Douglas from accusations of impulsiveness and capriciousness by arguing that the need for dignity is intuitive and innate. While psychological analysis would paint Douglas as acting on id, cognizance of the circumstances surrounding his actions is paramount. Although sublimation had normalized most of these vices, accepting the argument that Douglas was unjustifiably violent would be harsh and naïve. A man who carefully executes such an escape as he did is not just rational but also intelligent and patience.
Douglas is acutely aware of his societal and cultural values, hence the superego. He understands that as human being, he is entitled to justice, dignity, and fair treatment. However, he is also aware that for a slave, those remain desires of his heart that may never actualize. His interaction with Sophia Auld and reading classes only served to fuel his desire for freedom. As a teenage, his desire to overcome slavery and oppression increases. His fistfight with the dreaded slave driver, covey, reflects an epic battle for emancipation. His triumph over the embodiment of slavery offers the psychological impetus to pursue freedom. However, his ego guides him by setting the boundaries of operation. For instance, he remains cognizant that his escape was inevitable and possible and did not want to jeopardize chances of escape for another slave. He therefore chose not to disclose how he escaped from slavery.
Slavery is a dehumanizing phenomenon with great psychological strain on the victim and perpetrator. Like other characters, Douglas sometimes fall victim to repression. He represses his mother's absence from his consciousness to the extent that he does not give it its due consideration (Rice 34). He shows no remorse or anger at the separation. This shows that slavery diminished its victims to the extent of dissipating their natural instinct for care and family support. Douglas lacked any semblance of connection to her mother. As daily oppression became a way of life, his mind chose to concentrate on the present and leave sentimentality out of his mind. His reaction at the news of his mother's death was a classic example of this repression. He did not feel any remorse even after his master barred him from attending the burial. It was not important to him. He reckoned, "I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger" (Douglas 50). This indicates the extent to which slaves had repressed unacceptable behavior to the residual of their consciousness.
When the narrator of a story is also the protagonist, it always becomes difficult for the reader to objectively judge character. This is the case with Douglas. However, it is not lost that the man was spiritual and acutely discerning. He professes Christianity but does not hesitate to chastise the hypocrisy of the Christian slave owners. Like in apartheid and racism, religion played a big role in perpetuating slavery. Edward Covey symbolizes the abuse of religion in entrenching slavery. In spite of being a staunch Methodist, he treated slaves inhumanely. In fact, he enjoyed the unenviable respect of his peers as a man who was cruel and rough. Douglas attacks this hypocrisy by arguing that Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, would not have condoned it. His ability to read gives him a footing in biblical inter...