READING FREDERICK DOUGLASS
This is a brief text, and in many ways it's more approachable than the texts we've been wrestling with over the last few weeks. But do not be deceived. Douglass's Narrative is complex and challenging, and it's all too tempting to gloss over the complexities and focus on plot. Here are some issues to keep in mind as you read:
First of all, it's important to remember that autobiographies are constructed texts, even though they're not works of fiction. We've had some experience with this idea in Walden. Douglass actually published three versions of his autobiography: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself in 1845; My Bondage and My Freedom in 1855; and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass in 1892. These texts are quite widely available, for those who are interested in comparing texts. But it's possible to consider the choices Douglass makes in shaping his narrative even without comparing the texts. What details does he emphasize? What does he omit? Are certain themes stressed in Douglass's narrative?
Note also that the authorship of this text is itself an issue, as it is in many slave narratives. How do the authenticating documents that accompany the narrative affect your reading of the text? When we read Harriet Jacobs's narrative, we'll want to compare the documents that accompany her text with the documents that accompany Douglass's text. In both cases, consider these documents carefully.
Beyond these documents, in what ways does Douglass assert his powers of authorship. What relationship does he imagine between himself and his audience? What information does he communicate, and what secrets does he preserve? What aspects of the slave system does he emphasize, and to what effect?
Consider the form of Douglass's text as well. Beyond the documents that accompany the text, what other texts are incorporated into Douglass's narrative? How does he use the texts which he incorporates? How central are issues of reading, writing, and literacy in this text? How powerful is language in this text? How, for example, does Douglass link freedom and language? Is Douglass's view of reading at all Emersonian? More broadly, is it possible to read this text as affirming an Emersonian self-reliance? Or does Douglass's text suggest limitations to self-reliance?