Pauline Christiansen

English 267

Study Questions on Frederick Douglass

1.	Douglass’s narrative is an autobiography of a special kind. When reading a first-person autobiography such as this, we need to distinguish between the “narrating self,” which is the person telling the story outside of the events, and the “narrated self,” which is the character we see changing in the course of the narration. Some things you might consider: 1) the narrator’s relation to the reader; 2) his relation to his earlier self (the “narrated self”)); 3) his situation in history (that is, when is he telling the story in relation to when the events occurred); 4) the kind of narration (how does he tell the story?); 5) his selection of facts (what motifs are repeated, what events stressed?). What difficulties does Douglass face as an ex-slave trying to tell his story?
2.	What purposes can an autobiography have? Why does Douglass write his? What is his tone in the narrative? Does it change?
3.	This is also a “slave narrative,” the story of a man’s movement from slavery to freedom. What do we mean by freedom? What does Douglass tell us about his understanding of the concept?
4.	Douglass describes his broken family. How is the idea of family important in his narrative? What kinds of relations does he acquire instead of family? (why does he omit telling us of his wife?)
5.	What does Douglass point to as key moments for him? To what does he attribute his success?
6.	Does Douglass point out a reason for the origin of slavery? What are the consequences of slavery for whites and blacks? What is the source of the white’s power?
7.	What role does religion play in this story? Why does Douglass add an appendix?

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