In comparison to Incidents I found this so much harder to read. When Douglass describes the whipping of his aunt in the first chapter I had to put down the book and think about what I had just read. Although there were descriptions of unfathomable cruelty and injustice in Incidents the descriptions of the whippings and murders of slaves in this book were so disturbingly described. It always shocks me how little regard for human life slaveholders had. To hold a gun up to another human being’s face and shoot him with little thought or remorse is incredible. Things like this always make me think of the never ending debate of good vs. evil. Are most people innately good or evil. Is every child born a tabula rasa, simply waiting to learn morals and ethics from their own experience?

It always makes me think, what would happen if the roles were reversed? Are white people naturally evil, born oppressors? Are black people actually inferior? Had I lived in a different time without the knowledge and perspective I have on the “peculiar institution” of slavery would I take a stand, or accept the fate that my skin color dictates. If the roles were flipped (as they are in the British book Noughts and Crosses) would I be a cruel slave owner or a sympathetic abolitionist, crusading for human rights. It reminds me of the Zimbardo and Milgram experiments, you never actually know what having absolute power over another human being would make you do until you are placed into that situation. I think it shows that as good as most people believe they are the choice to abuse power or uphold basic human rights is one that ultimately shows what kind of person you are. Thankfully, most people won’t have to make that kind of decision. Although every human has free will, I think most people obey orders given by an even greater authority; like the SS Guards during WWII. How else can you explain injustices in global history like slavery, genocide, and human trafficking.

Douglass repeatedly mentions the effect that slavery had on Mrs. Auld. Initially she was kind, gentle, and even willing to teach Frederick how to read. As time wears on she becomes increasingly more cruel the longer she is a slave owner. I think having authority over another person ultimately can turn the meekest person into the cruelest.