Masters: Deities in the Minds of Slaves.

Something the I could not stop but question myself in regards to Douglass’s predicament is why he nor any other slaves had attempted a mass revolt on their slaveholders. But at the same time I question whether I would of been able to revolt myself. As for the reasoning, I would have to disagree quite heavily with a fellow AP Lang blogger: Jong Park. He argues that the reasoning for why slaves would not rebel to be the following: “Slaves had become so used to their conflicted lives that their thoughts, which should have consisted of rebellion, became thoughts that seemed as if they were satisfied with their lives” (Park). Clearly the slaves were unhappy with their lives, they showed discontent in practically everything they ever did. Whether it be their songs, which Douglass described to be full of sorrow, or the attempts at sabotaging the master in any way possible. Clearly they were not content to continue suffering.

And while I agree with him in regards to the fact that clearly the slaves should have rebelled or at least attempted some sort of mutiny, I do not think that this is due to them being content with their lives whatsoever. I agree that they were somehow able to cope with their lives however I do not think that this is why they would not rebel. They did not rebel due to a sense of fear that the slave holders were able to instill upon the slaves. The slaveholders through much practice were able to instill and idea that somehow they had divine, ultimate powers in regards to  dispelling any slave resistance. The slaves developed this mindset as a result of being constantly exposed to the inhuman actions of the masters and the feeling of despair created on the plantations. It was created as such because when one slave revolted or denied the authority of the master, he was whipped to oblivion and after seeing this done to an individual, I conjecture that the slaves assumed the same result if tried with a group. The feared the horrors that would result if they happened to get punished. Douglass had to deal with this while explaining his escape plan: The strength of our determination was about to
be fully tested. "At this time, I was very active in explaining every difficulty, removing every doubt, dispelling every fear, and inspiring all with the firmness indispensable to success in our undertaking" (Douglass, 75). It would have been near impossible to organize a revolt on a grand enough scale to cause an effect as most slaves lacked the confidence that they would succeed, and this is why Douglass failed at first, as his slaves could not overcome the fear of failiure.