Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Is Douglass's
Narrative an
autobiography?
2. What function
do Garrison's preface and Phillips's letter serve?
3. How does Douglass
show that slavery corrupts slave owners?
Suggested Essay Topics
1. What role do women play in
Douglass's Narrative? Pay close attention to when
or if female characters speak, to how female characters relate to
Douglass, and to the depiction of women in relation to virtue.
2. Analyze Douglass's treatment
of Christianity in the Narrative. Why does he include
his “Appendix”?
3. How does Douglass describe
New Bedford, Massachusetts? How does this description undermine
economic arguments in favor of slavery?
4. Think about Douglass's private
speech to the ships in Chapter X. Why does Douglass recreate this
speech in his Narrative? What do the ships represent?
Why is this moment important within the Narrative?
5. Analyze the various references
to American Revolutionaries in Douglass's Narrative. How
does Douglass's use of these references differ from Garrison's and
Phillips's? Why is the phrase “An American Slave” included in Douglass's
title?
