Frederick Douglass - The Life of a Slave

Essay by lastmanstandin8University, Bachelor'sA, April 2006

download word file, 5 pages 2.3

Mental Toughness

Life is like a roller coaster ride in that it takes many different turns. Throughout a person's life, there will be good times and celebrations along with bad times and grief. The most important thing to remember is to think positive and always stay strong mentally even at your lowest points. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass", an American Slave, written by Frederick Douglass himself, he portrays his journey through life as a slave, and shows readers the obstacles he overcomes in achieving his goal to be a free man. Douglass, being born into slavery, faces many hardships throughout his life that people of today will never know, but overcomes all of them because of his relentlessness to never give up, his passion to learn, be his own man, and more importantly staying strong mentally and keeping faith in God. Mental toughness is when all things seem to be going wrong and there are no signs of hope, but you continue to strive for what you believe in, and Douglass does a good job of that.

Douglass never gives up even when there seems to be no hope, and in the end is rewarded for all of his dedication. After everything Douglass goes through, in the end he is not granted his freedom, but instead takes it on his own and his dream of being free is no longer a dream but in fact reality.

Frederick Douglass, like the other slaves is not born with this mental toughness, but acquires it mainly through his faith in God, hard work, and learning to read and write. Douglass' faith in God is crucial because Douglass can turn to God at any point in his life. When Douglass is at his lowest, his faith in God...