Ideas about slavery that are developed through the interaction of the mistress and Douglass.

The mistress and Douglass being told off by her husband

An idea that is developed with Douglass's interactions with the mistress is that it demonstrates that slavery is not what everyone wants in the world. Some of the people feel that it is unnecessary and can ruin people's lives. It also makes people want to do things that they would not want to normally do if they didn't have slavery in the world. People are not born racist, they are raised to be racist.  An example would be when the mistress is teaching Douglass how to read. She treated him as if he was her own child, and loved him as her own child. He stated, "when I went into their family, it was the adobe of happiness and contentment. The mistress...nor suffering for which she did not [have]a smile." However, due to significant "rules" and "laws" this was not possible. With the mistress terrified of what her husband would do to her if he found out, she began to treat him like an actual slave, and then began treating him worse than her husband this. He stated, "She finally became even more violent in her opposition...resolved to better his instruction." The reason for this would most likely be to prove her point that she does not care for the child in that sense of way, and will not care for him, so instead of caring for him, she began to torture him. Slavery is an awful thing and can most definitely make people do somethings that they would not want to. Douglass states, "Nature has done...or slaveholders." With this, he means that the world is not meant to be like this, he is using this to show how slavery was man-made and it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the judgmental minds of the citizens during this time.

~Itzanami Sotelo