Dehumanizing

To enslave people is one of the most dehumanizing things one can do as a human. After reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass I realized how dehumanizing it was for both sides of slavery. To force another human being into slavery is just as dehumanizing as it is for the person being enslaved. Slavery has been a sad part of human history and I feel very fortunate that our country no longer participates in it.

            One might argue that the only people being dehumanized in slavery are those who are being enslaved. Yes it is horrible to beat and whip people half to death, to treat someone like a piece of property, to treat them like livestock, to never let them taste freedom, and many more things. All that I have listed are awfully dehumanizing and to dehumanize a person is one of the worst things one could do to another human being. But for those who held the whip, which enslaved other people, were also being dehumanized. For a person to treat a human being the way slave traders and slave masters did is just has dehumanizing as being a slave. It is barbaric to take a whip and whip someone half to death.

            Before he commenced whipping Aunt Hester, he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulder and back, entirely naked. He then told her to cross her hands, calling her at the same time a d---d b---h. after crossing her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led her to a stool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the purpose……… and after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cow skin, and soon the warm, red blood came dripping to the floor. (52)

            This scene from the book shows how dehumanizing it was for both sides of slavery. Aunt Hester in this scene half naked and is whipped half to death in front of the other slaves. She is humiliated and she is not treated like a human being at all. Now for the slave master who is whipping her it is also dehumanizing for him. It is barbaric to beat someone half to death and to own another human being is outrages. How does forcing another human being to do your work humane at all? It is not.

            In the book there are multiple examples of whites becoming dehumanized while participating in slavery. One example is Mrs. Auld she went from a women who never had a slave her life to a women who was just as ruthless as a person raised with slaves. She at first tries to teach Douglass how to read and is kind to Douglass and treats him nicely. But as she becomes accustomed to having a slave she becomes brutal and almost the complete opposite of how she started. She became just as barbaric as the people that owned slaves there whole life. Another example is when Mr. Gore shoots a slave named Demby and kills him. But as Douglass describes Mr. Gore doing so he talks about how Mr. Gore showed no remorse. After reading that scene of the book I felt like Mr. Gore treated the death of Demby as if he was just an animal. He shot him as if he was not a human.

            Slavery is a dark pass for the human race as a whole. It was dehumanizing in every way. It is astonishing that we treated human beings that way back then. I am glad that we no longer have slavery. Slavery is one of the worst acts in human history and I hope that we never have to experience it in any way again.