In chapter 11, Douglass speaks of his friend, Mr. Nathan Johnson, “of whom I can say with a grateful heart, ‘I was hungry, and he gave me meat; I was thirsty, and he gave me drink; I was a stranger, and he took me in.’” Douglass alludes to Jesus’ words in MATTHEW 25:35.
The Master’s Will
In chapter nine, Douglass writes, “I have said my master found religious sanction for his cruelty. As an example, I will state one of many facts going to prove the charge. I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm […]
John Greenleaf Whittier’s Poems
Douglass twice refers to significant excerpts of the poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier, which themselves allude to the Bible. First, in chapter eight, the reader finds Douglass referring to Whittier as “the slave’s poet” and applying The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother (see “The Ark of the Covenant“) to his grandmother’s own experience. Then, […]
Daniel and the Lions
Douglass alludes to God’s rescue of Daniel from a lion’s den in DANIEL 6 : 1-28 two times, saying in chapter eight that he “had escaped a worse than lion’s jaws” and in chapter 11 that he “felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.”