The Better-than-best Reflection ever written

In this passage, we read about a former slave, Harriet Jacobs, who escaped her master and hid in her grandmother’s attic for seven years .This reading immediately grabbed my attention as I was very curious to learn about how Harriet Jacobs spent seven whole years holed up in an attic, in complete darkness. When her friend Peter told her to enjoy her last walk outside, I felt dread for her at the terrible foreshadowing leading to her “dismal hole” of a home. While I was reading her descriptions of her “home” where “day and night were all the same,” and where she could barely even find space to crawl around, I felt physically uncomfortable and claustrophobic as I imagined being stuck in a tiny space for that long. The word that kept coming to mind as I read about the immense darkness and loneliness was “suffocating.” She felt like she was suffocating from the physical limits of the attic and also suffocating from the torture of knowing that her children were so close yet so far away. I could not imagine the mental discipline it must have taken to refrain from speaking to her children. She was ironically hiding right behind the nose of her master, and it gave me great satisfaction to read about how she so successfully misled Dr. Flint on his search for her. And the fact that she would choose to be trapped in isolation rather than being trapped in slavery just further proves how awful slavery was.

The Best Reflection Ever Written

In chapter 6 we learn that Mrs.Auld is a nice woman. She teaches Douglass how to read as well as treats him like a human. Douglass says this is because she has never owned slaves. When Mr.Auld discovers what his wife has been doing he beats her. Douglass reveals that he has sympathy for masters because owning slaves turns them into monsters. This came as a shock to me because even though his master(s) have treated him horribly, he still is able to feel sympathetic towards them. A moment that you would think would be relieving and happy, the death of his Master isn’t because, as property, Douglass doesn't know where he is to go next. Although I already knew this it still comes as a shock to me to read about how when slaves are to be sold that they are lined up with the animals, given a value, and then sold like cattle. Douglass, having lived in what was considered a “good home”, is more worried about being sold to a ruthless master, something he has never experienced. Douglass’ grandmother was not valuable enough to sell so instead she was turned loose in the woods to fend for herself. This is something I have never heard before and honestly it is one of the most horrifying parts to me. A woman who has, unwillingly, given her life to someone, has worked in the field and given many years of labor to a master is thrown away with no second thought. To be honest I was surprised to read that she wasn’t killed directly. When it comes to Mr.Thomas I was surprised to learn that he was a poor man since he was so unusually cruel to slaves. I would think that since he was poor he would treat his slaves better because he knows what it's like to not have much. I believe that he is not always cruel because he truly does understand what it's like but feels as if he has to be cruel because that's what slave owners do. Finally, we learn about the horrific Mr.Covey who beats Douglass for no reason. He beats him so often that he doesn't have time to heal from the last beating. I wonder if he does this to all of his slaves or does he have a fixation with Douglass for an unknown reason? Through those five chapters, I was never shocked but I was most definitely taken aback at certain times. I am interested to see how Douglass enjoys or does not enjoy how his life as a free man.