Slavery and The Corruption of Southern Belles in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas :: essays research papers

â€Å"But alas! This is kind heart but had but a short time remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influences of slavery, soon became red with rage, that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord, and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.† (Douglas 19) This is how Frederick Douglas describes the change in his former mistress, Sophia Auld, as slavery corrupted her whole way of life. From this excerpt we can see that people can change profoundly for the negative. The question is what could possess one to change so radically when given power over another human being. Prior to the mistress’ change, Frederick Douglas, author of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (1995) describes her as â€Å"a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.† (19) This brings us to one of Douglas’ motifs of how slavery can carry a fatal poison that if one possess’ can change their outsight to life. This poison affects some people more then others. For example, if one compares all of Douglas’ slave owners, it is easy to see that those born into a slave holding family are less likely to become as cruel as those marrying into that way of life. Auld did not convert to an evil lifestyle overnight, in fact, she was the key to Frederick Douglas’ education. Auld was a religious woman and often read from the bible aloud, when little Douglas asked her to teach him to read she did not object. After some time Douglas had learned the alphabet and a few short words but soon all that would end when Mr. Auld discovered the unlawful lessons taking place in his house. Furious, Mr. Auld forbade his wife to teach Douglas anymore on account of believing that learning â€Å"would make him [Douglas] discontented, unmanageable, and unhappy.† (20) From then on instead of seeing Douglas as a person Sophia Auld saw him as a piece of property, Was it Mrs. Auld that changed herself or was it the pressure from her husband to learn the slaveholding techniques? It’s possible that she was afraid of her husband to the point where she was scared to disobey him, yet it was not her fault that she was not aware of the laws against the teaching of slaves.