A Strange Death

“I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” pg. 19

     When we were assigned to read the first two chapters of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, I was expecting all kinds of cruel and violent acts but not something such as the quote I included above. I have read other books that involve torture, cruelty, all types of inhuman acts but never did I come upon a character being indifferent about the death of someone close (in this case, Douglass’s mother). I thought I had read the sentence wrong but after re-reading the page for the seventh time, it was clear as water that his mother had died and he didn’t give a fudge. I was pretty sure Douglass would talk some more about his mother’s death because well, that’s a pretty common event that would mark your life. But he didn’t. In the book, the part where his mother dies might as well be a part where he ate a chocolate cake. Meaningless. This is very shocking for me because I am very sensible and when someone close to me dies, it feels like it’s the end of the world.

     

By the end of chapter two I felt a little nervous. Douglass didn’t feel anything when his mother died. Does he have feelings? Or is physical pain the only thing he feels? Will someone else who is close to him die later in the book? Will he cry? I don’t know if I want to know the answers to these questions yet but I do want to keep reading. I’ll keep you informed!