Frederick Douglass in chapters five through nine of “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” depicts eight years of his life and the changes within those years. Frederick Douglass is moved to several different areas in these chapters. He gets to experience slavery as a city slave and a plantation slave. These chapters also focus on how he learned to read and write and his ambition to one day escape slavery.
Douglass starts chapter five by explaining that he had time outside the work he needed to do because children were not required to do hard labor work in the fields since they were not strong enough. Douglass is assigned as a servant to the colonel’s grandson Daniel when Daniel was hunting. Daniel and Douglass develop an amicable relationship. Although this relationship does help him, he still suffers along with all the other slaves receiving only a single linen shirt to wear. During the winter cold, cracks form in his feet to the point where he can fit his writing utensil in it. Around the age of six or seven, Douglass is blessed with the opportunity to move to Baltimore which his cousin Tom describes as an impressively beautiful city. He serves as a slave to Hugh Auld. Douglass has nothing to lose. He has no family relationships at the plantation and conditions could not be worse than they are at the plantation. On the way to Baltimore Douglass sees his first city, Annapolis, which at the time he was fascinated by. Reaching Baltimore, he is greeted kindly by Sophia Auld, Hugh Auld’s wife. Douglass believes that God has saved him by moving him to Baltimore. He speculates that he may still be in slavery if he had not been moved off Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. He even claims that from very early on he believed that he would not be a slave forever.
Sophia Auld’s kindness bewilders Douglass. Douglass realizes that Auld has never owned a slave and evils of slavery have not yet affected her. This confuses Douglass because she does not enjoy subservience and does not discipline him for eye contact. But, as time passes, even Sophia is taken by the power of slave owning. Over time her demeanor transitions from kindness to cruelty. In the beginning, the kind Mrs. Auld had started teaching Douglass the alphabet and simple words. However, Hugh stops this immediately. He eavesdrops on a conversation where Hugh explains that education ruins slaves because they become hard to manage. Douglass then recognizes the strategy used by the whites to keep black slaves subservient. To obtain freedom, Douglass must learn how to read and write. The rest of the chapter is a description of city life for slaves. Slaves of the city are often treated better than slaves on plantations because many slave owners do not want to come across as cruel to non-slave owning neighbors.
Frederick Douglass stays in the Auld household for around seven years. Although Sophia had stopped lessons for Douglass, he found a way to learn how to read by giving poor children bread for reading lessons. He is so grateful for their help that he is tempted to name the boys that had helped him, but he knows that they would be punished if he did so. Through the course of the seven years, slavery had taken away her feeling of sympathy for others, hardening her and making her cruel. When he was twelve years old, Douglass came across the book “The Columbian Orator.” It includes dialogue between a slave and a master. In the book, the slave convinces his master to free him by refuting every point the master had in defense of slavery. This book gives Douglass the foundation for him to express a coherent view against slavery. By doing this, Douglass realizes that Hugh was correct when he said that educating slaves would ruin them. He had begun to hate his owners more and more. Douglass is now educated and understands the unfairness and injustice of slavery, yet he still has no way of escaping it. Douglass becomes almost suicidal at this time. He often hears people speak of “abolitionists.” After reading a newspaper, he finds out that abolition means antislavery. He then meets two Irish sailors whom he helps without being asked. The sailors tell him to escape to the north, but Douglass says nothing because he is afraid it is a trick. In the final part of the chapter, Douglass decides to learn how to write. He learns how to write a few letters by watching carpenters write letters on lumber. He continues his education by competing with local boys to see who can write best and when the Aulds leave Douglass home alone, he uses the unused portion of Thomas Auld’s copybook to keep learning. This is how Douglass learns how to write.
When Douglass was ten to eleven years old, his old master Anthony died. He is taken back to the plantation to be appraised. He left two children, Lucretia Auld and Andrew Anthony who both would be receiving half of Anthony’s estate. Douglass does not want to leave Baltimore because he knows that city life is much better than plantation life. Slaves were appraised in the same way that livestock were. The slaves were scared of being separated from loved ones and friends, and they were afraid of Andrew as he was known to be very cruel. Upon arriving at the plantation, Douglass witnesses Andrew kick Douglass’s younger brother’s head until it bled. Master Andrew turned to Douglass and said he would do the same to him. Fortunately, Douglass is given to Lucretia. Lucretia then sends Douglass back to Baltimore. Almost as soon as Douglass returns to Baltimore, Andrew and Lucretia die. The property is then split among strangers. No slave was freed. In fact, Douglass’s grandmother, the person who took care of Andrew from when he was born to when he died, was left in the woods to die because she was of no use in the fields. Thomas Auld, Lucretia’s husband, remarries. He gets into a fight with Hugh and punishes him by taking Douglass back. Douglass, however, did not mind because Sophia had grown cruel and Hugh had become a drunkard. But, Douglass missed the local boys who had taught him how to read and write. On the ship going away from Baltimore, Douglass notices the shipping routes going to Philadelphia. He is determined to escape as soon as possible.
After Douglass arrives at Thomas Auld’s, he realizes just how difficult life is under constant starvation. Along with his sister and aunt, Douglass works in the kitchen. Even though it seems as if there is a lot of waste at the food storage area, the three resort to stealing and begging for food from neighbors. Douglass realizes that the reason Thomas is so mean is that he was not born with slaves but he got them through marriage. In the summer, Auld becomes an avid Christian after attending a church camp, but at the same time, his cruelty intensifies. However, there are good Christians. Mr. Wilson, a religious influencer in the community, creates a school for the slaves. Unfortunately, this operation is shut down. To get extra food, Douglass frees Auld’s horses and allows them to run away to a neighboring farm. As Douglass goes to chase the horses, he stops at the farm to receive a complete meal. After Douglass tries this scheme a few times, Auld sends Douglass to Edward Covey who is a poor farmer known to “break” slaves. Douglass knows that Covey will be even more cruel than Auld, but at least he will have enough food to eat.