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Marked by Douglasss first hand account of his experiences and flight from slavery, The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave. Written by himself (1845) has come to be regarded as one of the most prominent works of slave narrative literature. Almost single handedly, the implications of Douglasss 1845 narrative has come to define motifs of slave consciousness in the revolutionary vein. Douglasss one-sided qualification and obvious penchant for direct and confrontational opposition to the institution and proprietors of slavery is evident throughout his 1845 text. In vernacular of slave resistance, his autobiographical account gives birth to the designation of a prototypical model of slave resistance, one that places a particular and singular necessity and importance on a direct form of resistance. As a consequence of defining, undertaking, and promoting such an ideal, Douglass necessarily denigrates almost all other forms of resistance compromising them through the idealization of his prototypical model of slave resistance. Although he explicitly attempts to devalue acts of indirect resistance, Douglasss efforts to advance a prototypical model of slave resistance cannot be accomplished by means of categorically denying the functionality of these everyday forms of slave resistance. In his narrative, Douglass is compelled to annotate these forms of resistance not out of superfluous recollection, but from the inevitability of his own employment of those forms.
The effort to detail the reprehensible institution and era of post-colonial slavery in North America is one that authors of all sorts have attempted to capture in literature; it is from within this body of work that the modern comprehension of slave experience has evolved. Certainly some of the most poignant and truthful accounts of life in slavery have come from the narrative accounts detailed by ex-slaves themselves. Indeed, the genre of slave narrative literature is one that has shaped many of the definitions and themes of slavery and slave resistance. The work of Fredrick Douglass in the genre of slave narrative literature is a case in point. Perhaps most notable and best known for his ideological stance behind actions of revolutionary consequence, the renown abolitionist, writer, and ex-slave once said, Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning (0). His ideological stance is clear. Douglasss advocacy of the prototypical model of resistance is characterized by direct action and moreover epitomized by violent and physical insurgency. Upon recalling the events that take place between he and Mr. Covey he indicates the importance he and the significance of the oncoming account. He says, You seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man (Douglass 6). He goes on to write
This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self confidence, and inspired me again with determination to be free. He can only understand the deep satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery. I felt as I never felt before. It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom. My long crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and now I resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me. (Douglass 1)
Douglasss account of this decisive moment in his life as a slave is marked with a tone and drive that exemplifies his advocacy of masculine, physical uprising. Furthermore Douglass classifies slavery into that of two types; that of slavery in form and that of slavery in fact. He implies that physical subjugation is the true symbol of slavery and that to repel this form of domination was the most important measure of attaining freedom; with it he reaches the heaven of freedom. Thus the in terms of defining the particulars of the prototypical model of slave resistance it is clear that Douglass places the act of physical uprising beyond all other measures regardless of existing as a slave in form.
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Douglass prototypical model of slave resistance by definition excludes and fails to recognize the merit of other forms of resistance in terms of there inherent value and utility in attaining freedom. In his retrospective account of his triumphant victory over Mr. Covey, Douglass not only stresses the significance of physical uprising but he also infers that those who could not or did not engage in physical revolt similarly would not experience the deep satisfaction which [he] experienced (Douglass 1). This contention necessarily limits the value of all other forms of resistance and excludes those slaves who only carried out indirect forms of resistance the possibility of experiencing of freedom from the state of being a slavery in fact. From these premises it is clear that the distinguishing factor that delineates Douglasss model from that of other forms is the act of direct and physical preempting and/or counteracting of physical coercion. Furthermore in retracing the account of Esthers whipping Jenny Franchot in her essay The Punishment of Esther Fredrick Douglass and the Construction of the Feminine, suggests Douglasss establishment of masculine individualism as a precursory qualification of his own identification. She writes
Starkly opposing the white-father owner to the black-mother surrogate, the scene outlines bitterly conflicted racial and gender identifications. If the masculine is vitiated by its identification with the white slaveholder so is blackness contaminated by its identification with the exposed and degraded woman. To achieve manhood, then, is to forsake not only the mother but her race, whereas to achieve blackness is to forsake the father and his virility...enabling him to suppress these contaminated dialectics of race and class beneath a discourse of self-reliant virility. (Franchot 14)
The implications of Franchots interpretation of Douglasss own assertion of identity suggests that Douglass includes the establishment of a discretionary masculine independence and individualism as a stipulation toward the realization of freedom by insurgent means.
In the essay, Voice Under Domination The Arts of Political Disguise, James Scott explores acts of a more indirect form or everyday forms of resistance that various subordinate groups have employed to counteract oppressive regimes of dominant ones. Interestingly Scott likens these forms of indirect and everyday forms of resistance to warfare. He says
The undeclared guerilla war that rages in this political space requires that we enter the world of rumor, gossip, disguises, linguistic tricks, metaphors, euphemisms, folktales, ritual gestures, anonymity. For good reason, nothing is entirely straightforward here; the realities of power for subordinate groups mean that much of their political action requires interpretation precisely because it is intended to be cryptic and opaque. (Scott, 17).
His characterization of these everyday forms of resistance as undeclared guerilla war illuminates the inherent risk-taking involved in the acts however the passive nature of each brought about through anonymity is made clear. Although Scott does not go so far as to compare or contrast the innate worth of direct and indirect forms of resistance, he does contend that, Most of the political life of subordinate groups is to be found neither in overt collective defiance of powerholders nor in complete hegemonic compliance, but in the vast territory between these two polar opposites (Scott 17). Scotts inference that the bulk of defiant acts aimed toward dominant groups is indeed carried out in these forms of everyday resistance is quite reasonable and well taken. It reveals the substance and value of those methods of action employed by the majority of slaves. Furthermore it illuminates a problematic condition of Douglasss prototypical model, namely the slaves ability or lack thereof to forcibly repel and triumph against attack. Scott does address notions of riotous action. He says
[S]ome of the basic forms of collective action that authorities would class as mob riots should almost certainly be seen as making strategic use of anonymity as well. The popular politics of the historical mob arises particularly in situations in which permanent opposition movements are impossible to sustain but where short-run collective action may succeed by virtue of its evanescence. (Scott 150)
It is without question that one of Douglasss intent in creating his narrative was to promote and appreciate physical uprising against oppressors and it is clear that Douglass would dismiss the indirect forms of resistance outlined by Scott. Douglass was not an advocate of subtlety in the matters of resistance, as evidenced by Douglasss definite and deliberate claim that he let it be known to every white man the stakes by which he resolved to counteract physical subjugation. In fact, Douglass considers anything less than an overt stance to counteract and overcome physical subjugation as a matter of life or death.
Douglasss account of the events immediately preceding his confrontation with Mr. Covey shed light on his inevitable exercise of indirect forms of resistance. Upon being sent back to the Covey residence finding no recourse with Master Thomas, we find a brief interlude that Douglass has with Sandy Jenkins. Here, Douglass is compelled to seek protection from Mr. Covey with a certain root that Jenkins assures him will provide him with protection...
Douglass also comes to speak upon his escape from slavery. Here he is again compelled to address another form of indirect form of resistance. Douglass mildly denounces the underground railroad by reasserting his individualism, he states, I will now proceed to the statement of those facts, connected with my escape, for which I am alone responsible. Nonetheless in addressing and the development and negative affects of the underground railroad he automatically endows the mechanism with a certain credence. Furthermore he goes on to outline the necessity of limiting the details of his own flight from slavery in order to prevent the hazard of closing the slightest avenue by which a brother slave might clear himself of the chains and fetters of slavery (Douglass 51).
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