The impact of Slavery

When Douglas says that slavery was hard on his mistress, he means that it changed it. When he first arrived at the home, she treated him as any human being would want to be treated and should treat another, but as time passed she became much meaner and as Fredrick Douglas states, “Under its influence, the tender heart became stone and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness”(148). I think that a lot of circumstances made slavery hard on his mistress and different factors such as her husband and social pressures contributed to her change in attitude and actions.
From the text, it appears that Master Hugh’s has a lot of influence over his wife’s actions and beliefs. Fredrick Douglas lived with the family for seven years, and during this time was able to learn how to read and write, however this did not come easily. His mistress began teaching him how to read by helping him learn the alphabet. At first his mistress was very nice to Douglas, however, under her husband’s influence, ceased to instruct him anymore. Douglas says, she now commenced to practice her husband’s precepts. She finally became more violent in her opposition than her husband himself” (149). Because her husband was opposed to her helping Douglas become educated, she soon changed her views on slavery and the way she should treat a slave and became very cold hearted. This left Douglas to fend for himself in learning how to read because the Hugh’s family not only ceased to instruct him but forbade him from being instructed by anyone else as well.
Outside pressures also affected Douglas’ mistress as seen through her change in beliefs and attitude as well as strip her of the heavenly qualities that she once possessed. Through outside pressures, his mistress became aware of the dangers that came along with a slave knowing how to read. By knowing how to read and write, Douglas would be able to get information from the outside and become aware of what was going on in regard to slavery, abolitionists, and escaping. However, even through her attempts to keep this information from Douglas, he learned to read from the white boys on the street and gave them bread in exchange for knowledge. As Douglas started reading more frequently, just has his mistress suspected, he became aware of the awful conditions he had been dealt. The more he read, the more he began to detest his slaveholders as he began to view them as people who robbed him of his freedom and life.