Kenneth Greenberg And Frederick Douglass example essay topic

Even though Kenneth Greenberg and Frederick Douglass belonged to the different epochs of literature, these two writers are united by the same theme in their writings. The Honor and Slavery of Greenberg provides a thoughtful insight to the slavery past of the United States through the prism of historic understanding of those events. And the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by the second author, is an autobiographic work of a slave who lived in the middle of the nineteenth century and had a possibility to eyewitness the happening by himself. In their works, both authors are particularly concerned with the social trends and conditions, which led to such a state when one single nation has been divided into two different and contrary regions the North and the South, and more to it two opposite societies. The situation, when one part of people is progressed and democratic, and the other is still living in the slave-owning system is interesting to both writers. In his autobiographical work Frederick Douglass presents to us a period of the American history that virtually every citizen of the United States is ashamed of.

The author, in such a way that it horrifies the reader, expresses a revealing picture of American slavery. Douglass way of narrative allows the reader to feel authors pain and pity of terrible past. Douglass writing is an attempt of the author to express his personal point of view on the deeds of the past time. Frederick Douglass views his past through the prism of wisdom, which comes only with life experience. The author does not blame anyone in his work; he is rather concerned with the idea of why did all of that happen? What are the drives of the society that were present at those times?

Douglass examines the hatred of the slavery by introducing the reader to the structure of the society of those times, and living conditions of slaves. Slave owners, often referred to as masters, simply did not have to provide adequate food and clothing because there was no enforcement of it by law or any other authority regulator. In general, consideration and generosity for slaves were at the discretion of their beholders. Within these tragic lifestyles, ties between biological family members within the slave community were very rare. Most slave children new little, if anything, about there parents. The slaveholders instructed the elderly to care for young children and often broke the bonds between parents and their children to keep unity suppressed and ignorance high.

Douglass shows his sincere astonishment when he depicts his owners, noble and honorable men, as ruthless and mean owners of not only human bodies but also their souls. In his turn Kenneth S. Greenberg, as the title of his book suggests, talks about the way honorable things and deeds of the Southern gentlemen (such as nobleness, bravery in fighting the duels, expensive gifts presentations) could be associated with the culture of slavery and inhumanity of the society. The "honorable men" who controlled the slavery South had a code of conduct of their own, the code that constituted of numerous obviously absurd features, which disclosed a lot regarding the living of slave-owners and the essence of slavery. Greenberg attacks the slave-owners with many interesting arguments. To author the constitution of the Southern gentleman's language is very strange. Greenberg discovers that the main purpose of the honorable behavior is to support the public image of the person.

The slave-owning state of the society valued the social status and honor the most. The society's perception of dishonored people was approximately the same as of a slave. That is why it was important for Southern gentleman to keep up their faces through a complex set of gestures and expressions. However being noble has never prevented the slave-owners from unfair attitude towards their people.

Douglass heavily condemns this approach. The violence slaves endured was the most vivid representation in Douglass portrayal of slavery in the South. No emotion or rage was held back by slaveholders and no pity or sympathy was put forth either. Cruelty and abuse were the only means of control the slaveholders believed would keep order. The pain inflicted upon these individuals, even to the point of death in some cases, fueled the typical masters obsession with domination and power.