Freedom in the Combine

The approach Douglass takes on the ending of his narrative is a very peculiar one. He decided to abstain from telling the story and details of his escape in order to protect any fellow slaves that might have a chance like his. Even though some may perceive this as disappointing or unfulfilling, it is not. Douglass closes by depicting the reconstruction of his life as a citizen and not a slave. He finishes with a joyful and compelling ending instead of a bitter and intricate one. Yet, Douglass communicates his major interpretations of the system he was subjected to. 

It was impossible not to recall Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the quintessential moments preceding Douglass's freedom. These two works parallel the constraints of a system and illustrate similarities in the breaking of the human spirit. I was reminded of the insurgent R.P McMurphy when Douglass reveals his examinations. He analyses how slaves were made thoughtless by their owners and eventually they ceased being human, all in order to have owners and slaves "content"(p. 98). Correspondingly, in Kesey's novel McMurphy serves as a conduct to depict the annihilation of the human character in mental institutions. When man is most fragile and impotent they lose reason and succumb to the restraints of their system. Douglass recounts how he confronted slavery and overcame its dehumanizing character, but Kesey shows how McMurphy failed to overcome the system. Slavery is a ruthless practice that has seen the destruction of many and unfortunately it has extended to present day. The psychiatric institution that Kesey portrays is just one of the many similar institutions to slavery.

Unfortunately Douglass's (and every freed slaves') suffering did not end with emancipation. It was impossible for Douglass to be calm after he freed himself. He had to rebuild his life in a new world where he "was afraid to speak to any one for the fear of speaking to the wrong one, and thereby fallen into the hands of money-loving kidnappers,"(p. 104) and cope with the threatening life of a free slave. In the end there was rest for Douglass, but the menace of slavery prevailed. It was always reminding him of what he had been and Douglass never forgot: he "felt myself a slave"(p. 112).