Isaac Heins
Paideia Section 22
Novian Whitsitt
Frederick Douglass and
R.U.R.
11/15/2014
Simply Altering the Revolution
The Narrative and Life of Frederick Douglass revolutionized the abolitionist movement when it showed Frederick Douglass’ constant struggle against the atrocities of slavery. Time and time again, readers were subjected to the physical abuse of Douglass by masters and overseers such as Mr. Gore and Edward Covey as well as the mental and emotional abuse and exploitation of people such as Thomas Auld and Hugh and Sophia Auld. Even people who originally were kind to Douglass, like the Aulds, grew to disrespect and mistreat him. However, even in the midst of all of this evil, Frederick Douglass possessed the desire to be free. Specific events such as Douglass being sent to Baltimore, or Douglass standing on the banks while watching the steamboat float by gave him the desire to be free, and it was this desire that drove him to eventually escape. Similarly, the struggle in
R.U.R. marked a spin on the abolitionist movement by creating a robot movement. The rebellion of the robots in
R.U.R. affirms the beliefs of
Frederick Douglass by altering the concept of a civil rights movement, showing that, in order to achieve what a person desires, that person must be willing to fight against all internal and external obstacles in order to reach that desire.
In
Frederick Douglass
, Frederick maintained his belief that he should be a free man and not a slave throughout the events in the book. Every time he encountered an issue, he faced it,

overcame it, and advanced through his life, all the while sharpening and shaping his desire for freedom. Douglass faced constant wickedness throughout the book by many people; however, despite the horrible things that happened to him, he continued to the goal. ‘“Now,” said he, “if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.”’ (
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
p.44) In this line, the speaker, Mr. Auld, instructed Mrs. Auld not to teach Frederick to read and write; however, instead of giving up, Frederick persisted by teaching himself how to read and write. Also, it was worth noting that there was an instance of foreshadowing in the passage when Mr. Auld correctly assumed that it ‘would make him discontented and unhappy’. Throughout the story, Frederick showed that he simply did not want to be a slave; he wanted to be free, and took it into his own hands to gain things for himself and make himself free. ‘The plan which I adopted, and the one which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met on the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read.’
(48­49) Douglass coerced these boys with bread in order to obtain his lesson, which showed both his determination to learn as well as his cunning and creativity to obtain what he wanted. ‘The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch , and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell .’ (48) This passage showed Douglass’ determination to achieve his goal