Slavery is defined as the state of being under the control of someone else, where that person is forced to work for a other. Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist leader, was born into this horrific, dehumanizing system in 1818 and lived to tell his story in his autobiography My Servitude and My Freedom. Douglass argues that the institution of slavery victimizes everyone involved in the system by recalling the abuse and victimization of slaves, as well as the involvement of slave owners and non-slave-owning whites. This essay will analyze Frederick Douglass's views on slavery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe dehumanization of slaves begins at the very beginning of their lives. Douglass calls this process “the great purpose of slavery”; children are almost always separated from their mothers and sold to owners so far from home that they would not even consider returning. This process breaks the maternal bond that is often taken for granted. These children grow up without knowing when or where they were born, who their siblings are, and even who their real parents are. White people who bought and sold slaves believed they were doing so with “a clear conscience.” Yet this horrific process does not stop there: once the children are brought to the plantation, their working conditions only get worse. Douglass paints a heartbreaking picture when he describes the living conditions of these little children, including himself. He mentions that everyone around him was in a constant state of nudity, the only thing they were given was "a coarse sack or tow linen" that came down to their knees. It was the only clothing they had not only during the boiling summers, but also during the unbearable winters. By wearing it every day, we understand that it could not provide any protection and would quickly be torn and useless to wear. Not only were they deprived of adequate clothing, but the sleeping conditions for the animals on the plantation were also much better than those the children had to endure. They had no beds or blankets, Douglass remembers, sleeping in the bag containing cornmeal, to create a sort of barrier against the cold. It is obvious that subjecting any human being to these types of conditions has an everlasting psychological effect on them, many will be reduced to considering themselves as a brute, whose only goal in life is to serve and bring benefit to a another human being. Later in his autobiography, Douglass recalls a time, after the death of his former master, when he was returned to his old plantation to be redistributed with the rest of the "horses and men, cattle and women, hogs and children." . This process of reevaluation is a common practice within the institution of slavery at this time, many are returned to their original homes and examined and judged based on their "working" conditions, the owners do not take into consideration the new “family” ties. what they had done in their new locations, they simply evaluate the slave's usefulness to them. Douglass argues that the system of slavery also affected individual slave owners. He does this by documenting the time he would serve for Hugh Auld in Baltimore. At first his wife, Mrs. Auld, was a very kind and religious woman who had never owned a slave before. For this reason, she treated Douglass almost like one of her own, her compassion towards him was to a degree far greater than what.