Trigger Shy: Enslaved Bodies, Engendered Pain, and the Destruction of Language in Frederick Douglass's Narrative and My Bondage and My Freedom

Chrysta Wilson explores ongoing scholarly criticisms of Frederick Douglass’s emphasis on the pain and suffering of enslaved women. Many scholars have characterized this aspect of his Narrative as opportunistic and... [ view full abstract ]

Chrysta Wilson explores ongoing scholarly criticisms of Frederick Douglass’s emphasis on the pain and suffering of enslaved women. Many scholars have characterized this aspect of his Narrative as opportunistic and exploitative: according to this reading, the Black women of Douglass’s Narrative serve the sole purpose of legitimizing Douglass’s own claims about the tyranny of slavery. As Deborah McDowell writes, “… Douglass's 'freedom'—narrative and physical alike—depends on narrating black women's bondage. He achieves his 'stylistic signature' on the backs of black women” (McDowell xxii). While arguments of this sort certainly find reasonable grounds within the text, Wilson argues that a closer look at Douglass’s representation of pain leads to a different, albeit still highly gendered, interpretation. She suggests that reading both the Narrative and My Bondage and My Freedom through the lens of trauma theory reveals a system of representation that, though influenced by race and gender, is dictated by trauma rather than misogyny or opportunism.