The Pit and the Ladder: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

The most significant term used by Douglass in his narrative to distinguish the condition of slavery from that of freedom lies in his depiction of slavery as a "horrible pit" with "no ladder upon which to get out," as this metaphor may be interpreted in several ways, addressing in turn both the ideas of mental and physical slavery previously discussed in class and alluded to throughout The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass 36). One may view the metaphorical pit of which Douglass writes in two ways: first, as representing the state of ignorance slaveholders sought to confine their slaves within, and second, as the deprivation by slaveholders and the institution of slavery of the physical means with which slaves may have overcome their bonds and moved on to freedom.

Looking at the "horrible pit" as representative of the "mental darkness" Douglass describes, the similarities between the state of being trapped at the bottom of a pit and being without any knowledge of reading, writing, or current events during the nineteenth century become quite clear (33; 36). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a pit is defined as "A natural or manmade hole in the ground, usually a large or deep one" ("Pit, n¹"). The nature of a deep hole in the ground is to have sides slanted at so steep an angle that to escape by the physical act of climbing alone is impossible. As Douglass asserts, the process of becoming literate is, for a slave, very similar; just as leaving the pit requires the aid of a rope, ladder, or arm, literacy cannot be achieved without some type of aid. As Douglass writes:

From this time I was most narrowly watched. If I was in a separate room any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book, and was at once called upon to give an account of myself. All this, however, was too late. The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell (Douglass 34).