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Book Report on Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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Douglass was a slave who was born in 1818 and died in 1895. He was an activist in respect to the freeing of the slaves and is well known for  his autobiographical account of life as it was lived on the plantation. Synopsis: Because this is a work of nonfiction, there is no real beginning and end with a  plot to move things along. Rather, Douglass relays what it is like to live on a Plantation and to be enslaved. The author provides details of the horrendous treatment of  the African males, and further provides examples of how the masters lived as compared with the slaves. The class differences, and class envy certainly comes through. Still, Douglass is not  bitter. However, he explains that "the real feelings and opinions of the slaves were not much known or respected by their masters" (PG). The reason is because when slaves were  grilled for their opinions they had to reply in a kind way as to make their masters look good (PG). Although Douglass was an optimist, this inability to express himself  seemed to frustrate him. Interpretation: It seems that the author did what he set out to do, which is to write down his memoirs to convey his personal experiences  as a slave. One wonders how much of Douglasss memoirs were tainted by the continual masquerade which was so prevalent in slave territory. Although Douglasss narrative is far from being  sugar coated, his optimism may in fact have been somewhat disingenuous. Whether one accepts his report of the way things were at the time or not, one can certainly believe  the horrible tales he tells, which do provide proof of his condemnation of slavery. In fact, though he does not portray every slave master as evil--and there were some who