Hypocrisy Of Religious Slave Owners example essay topic

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass presents the reader with a world in which Christianity and slavery walk hand in hand; A Christian community in which the word master signifies the sole proprietary owner of another's existence. A world in which it is deemed unchristian for an oppressed man or woman to speak out on their own behalf. A society in which God's gift of free will is only enjoyed by the wealthy land owner who's transgressions against his fellow man will not be judged in the eyes of the Lord; in a land esteemed as being the promise land of the hard working man. Through this world, Douglass illustrates the hypocrisy of the self proclaimed righteous Christian master and opens the eyes of the reader to the true cost of southern prosperity.

In his opening lines, Douglass addresses how the institution of slavery narrows slaves' opportunities for self-knowledge. Slave owners withhold information about slaves' birth dates in order to keep them from developing a unique sense of self. For what better way to affirm ones authority than to deny another his identity? How can slaves differentiate themselves as being men when they "know how old they are no more than horses do".

Furthermore slaves were forbidden to learn to read to gain what Douglass termed the "key to freedom". This denying another of literacy is in fact another hypocritical act on the part of the owners. It was expected of the slaves to be Christian; but how can one be a follower of the book, when one cannot read the book. Those who could read the word, would often manipulate it to their advantage and often cite it while administering a beating or raping this victims. Likewise, Douglass explains how their masters do not acknowledge family ties among slaves. Family relationships would allow slaves to develop a unique sense of self and would encourage alliances among slaves, a serious threat to the slave owner's hold on power.

Douglass also states that he believes his father was his first master, Captain Anthony. Denying slaves information about their parentage allows slave owners to avoid taking parental responsibility for their unchristian sexual exploitation of female slaves. Masters often sold these children, embarrassing evidence of adultery and fornication, two sins harshly condemned by the Christian religion of these supposedly pious slave owners. For those who weren't sold, the masters made sure of their misery through severe beatings, only adding to the evil. An example of this is the horrific scene in which Andrew crushes the head of Douglass' younger brother.

Although Douglass does not say so, it is possible that Captain Anthony was also his brother's father. All of this is done for no reason symbolizing the senseless violence towards children of slavery. If children weren't enough for the reader, Douglass also goes to illustrate the sad death of his grandmother as she is left alone in a shack in the depths of the forest even after raising her master from infancy to the grave she is left to die like an animal. The slaveholder's attacks at family structure do not end there. Further into the narrative, Douglass describes how he is sent by the "reformed" Thomas Auld to Covey. Douglass uses this to attack the hypocrisy of religious slave owners in that both men are highly religious yet they are unforgivably cruel.

Covey, who is deeply religious, had a married man impregnate his female slave. Besides the obvious sin of treating another human being like a piece of livestock, there is a greater sin of forcing a man to violate his marriage vows. Douglass includes a great example of how slavery is the antithesis of Christianity as he portrays Sophia Auld's transformation upon becoming a slave owner. Sofia was a kind, affectionate woman and, at first, treated Douglass like a human being, discouraging his servility and educating him. When her husband informed her that education would ruin Douglass as a slave, she began to treat him like property. Consequently, she loses her former kindness and generosity and is reduced to being just another cruel owner.

Through this Douglass maintains that slavery corrupts the slave owner's humanity just as it corrupts the slave's. For a society so preoccupied with Christian morals and beliefs, one must ask how slave owners and their sympathizers could allow such barbarity. Douglass explains this by showing how slave owners must constantly deny the humanity of their slaves in order to justify their misdeeds. By "dealing with the brutes" the owner himself is reduced to being the brute, and as a result turns to becoming piously religious in order to convince himself otherwise. Because slaves were classified as inferior and not quite human, the legal system judged them as less credible than their masters. In the courts the testimony of a black witness was never equal to that of a white witness.

The slave's law began and ended with his oppressor. No beating was unfair or too severe unless the master said so. No sexual activity was rape unless the master said so. No killing was murder unless the master said so. In the unlikely event the ruling be in favor of the victim the crime would be considered against property, not an equal person. Such everyday affirmation of ones position in society only goes to justify the means.

Some slaves were so brainwashed that they fight other masters' slaves over whose master is better. These absurdities are a direct result of the slave owner's control over the slave's self-knowledge. Douglass' narrative testifies that no master is a "good" master, even if some are less brutal than others. All of these are attempts at separating the blacks while the white oppressors, on the other hand, keep up a united front. None of Douglass' white co-workers would testify on his behalf after the white apprentices nearly beat him to death. Even after such affirmations, sooner or later the slaves would demand their freedom.

For this the masters use their evil to devise a genius idea in which they grant slaves days off during religious holidays only to drink and engage in non christian disillusioning acts which in turn disgust the slaves with the notion of freedom ultimately making them feel better to return to work. It is this ungodly manipulation and deception that the slave owners pride themselves. Chapter after chapter, Frederick Douglass' narrative is a powerful testament to the barbarity and hypocrisy of the supposedly Christian institution of slavery. This narrative is beam of light in a dark time in American history where two apparently contradictory beliefs merge together to benefit the immoral profit hungry band of thieves known as the upper class; Twisted individuals who filter the word of God and manipulate it in order to further their profits. For there can be no justice when a society can use Christianity to promote evil..