1.) Describe in detail the Narrative’s powerful opening scene. For what offense is
Douglass’s Aunt Hester punished so brutally? What does Douglass the adult writer
expect the reader to understand or surmise about her relationship to the master that the
child Douglass would not have known?
2.) Who is Sophia Auld? How is she first described? Describe her initial relationship
with Frederick. How does she change? Why does she change? According to Douglass,
what does the change in her illustrate?
3.) Why is Frederick determined to learn to read? Describe in detail the strategies he
uses to become literate – learn to read and write. How does literacy change him?
4.) What is the purpose of Chap. IV? Discuss two or three specific examples of brutality
that Douglass describes; what impact do these descriptions have on you as a reader?
How does he show, again, that slavery had a horrible effect on white people as well?
5.) Douglass asserts that: “Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened
the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity” (1184). How was Baltimore liberating for
him, both as a child and later as a teenager? In other words, what opportunities did
Baltimore provide that were not available to him on the plantation?
6.) What does Douglass find particularly abhorrent about “Christian” slave owners?
Provide one of the examples he gives to support his critique. What is the purpose of the
“Appendix” (p.1224) Douglass added to his narrative?
7.) Why is Douglass sent to live with Covey, the “slave-breaker”? What strategies does
Covey use to “break” slaves? How does Douglass describe the first six months of his stay
with Covey?
8.) How does Douglass claim manhood? In the Narrative, Douglass presents his fight
with Covey, rather than his escape, as the climax and turning point of the narrative.
Why is this experience a turning point for him?
