The book My Bondage and My Freedom focuses on the early life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass writes about how he, a former slave, finally walks the path to freedom after enduring many hardships. The moment he regains his freedom represents the turning point in his life and he hopes that through this autobiography people can truly embrace quality and diversity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIn his autobiography, there are many deep concepts that he wants to demonstrate, but there are two theories that apply the most, namely Dubois' theory of double consciousness and Omi and Winant's theory of hegemony. Dubois defines double consciousness as “an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled efforts; two identities at war” (Dubois 7). Dubois argued that there are two competing identities as a black American: seeing oneself as an American and seeing oneself as a black person while living in a white-dominated America. Living under the non-dominant race category “creates a fracture in the sense of identity within that society” (Dubois 5). When Douglass used his intellect and ability to argue with white boys, he challenged the idea of ​​inequality, saying “have I no right to be as free as you?” (Douglass 332). This shows that he considers himself equal to any other man. He stood up as a black man but also as an American. The feeling of double consciousness is present throughout his novel and influenced Douglass' growth. Furthermore, Omi and Winant's theory of cultural hegemony is an important concept in many ways, as the backbone of much contemporary cultural theory and behavioral science which is usually associated with ideas about a group that dominates and controls another. Omi and Winant define hegemony as “the conditions necessary, in a given society, for the achievement and consolidation of government” (Omi and Winant 67). It can be defined as an agreement in which the person does not necessarily understand what they are agreeing on. For the continuation of hegemony, Omi and Winant observe that “dominant groups must develop and maintain a popular system of beliefs and practices” (Omi and Winant 67). The best way to put it is that people don't control ideas, but rather ideas control people. If the controlled group accepts the rules established by the dominant group, an agreement exists that preserves the hegemony of the dominant group. In My Bondage and My Freedom, Douglass said, “my bondage saw no end. It was a terrible reality… that thought irritated my young spirit” (Douglass chapter 11). Douglass knew that the reason hegemony existed was because slaves were comfortable with their position in life. According to the book, "it was worth half a cent to kill a nigger and half a cent to bury one" (chapter 4). In Douglass' autobiography, as a slave, from birth to death he is only worth one cent in total, which represents cultural hegemony, the white group dominating the black group. As slaves, they can be sold or transferred to anyone at any time with the agreement of their master. Under the same sky there are enormous differences between human lives, the only cause is skin color. Like the horse and sheep, slaves were only considered free labor or working machines for profit in the eyes of the owner, they were not even considered living. As slaves, they were not treated like human beings and had absolutely no freedom. When Douglass met Hugh Auld, who was Thomas Auld's brother, he met theperson Sophia who greatly changed Douglass's way of thinking. According to Douglass, “she is the kindest, softest-hearted woman… (Douglass chapter 10). Life in Baltimore was much better than when Douglass worked on the plantation. He noted, “I was treated like a pig on the plantation; Now I was being treated like a child” (Douglass chapter 10). Sophia had never had a slave and gave respect and dignity to Douglas, which shows that hegemony does not happen naturally, it is something that is created by society. Since Sophia has never had a slave before, she has never had the idea or learned from others how to treat one. In his consciousness he saw slaves just like other human beings. Douglass was fortunate enough that Sophia agreed to teach Douglass with easy words, and he felt comfortable and safe when he was around Miss Sophia. However, when Mr. Auld discovered that his wife was teaching a slave to read and write, he became angry and said that "learning would ruin the best negro in the world" (Douglass chapter 11). He is afraid that when the slaves gained enough knowledge, they would no longer be satisfied with the rules of the whites and would run away from being slaves. In Mr. Auld's consciousness, Douglass was nothing but a slave: within the same society there existed two consciousnesses. However, this incident alerted Douglass that acquiring an education was the only way to break the hegemony and escape being a slave. Double consciousness had also taught Douglass to see the world from multiple angles, people might be friends like an American, but slavery makes enemies of different colors. Douglass notes that "we were both victims of the same overshadowing evil: she, as master, I, as slave" (Douglass chapter 11), and Douglass is also a Christian who believes deeply in God, there were times when he prayed to "God, save me! God, let me be free! Why was I born a slave?” (Douglass chapter 15). He used his voice to show his indignant feeling after being treated unfairly, and asked God, if human beings were to be created equal, and there is only one God, then why were we treated differently? due to skin color differences, when Douglass saw himself as an American or a Christian Everyone around him belonged to the same category as Americans or Christians, but when he saw himself as black, he saw this insurmountable gap between blacks and society. dominated by whites. Another example shows how the dominant group controls due to the ignorance of the subordinate group. The slaves were incapable of reading and writing, but “seized by the determination to learn to read… to achieve the desired goal” (Douglass chapter). 11) Furthermore, slaves did not know their birthday or who their mother was, even though parental care is such an important part of mental health, it fractured their family values. According to Douglass, “most slaves know as little of their own age as horses do, and it is the desire of most masters of my acquaintance to keep their slaves thus ignorant” (Douglass chapter 15). From this we know that slaves were treated or viewed like animals, and slave masters tried to keep their slaves as ignorant as possible so that they could stay in the “comfort zone” of believing that this is what God wanted them to do. Douglass described his first master Anthony as a vicious man who enjoyed torturing his slaves: “a cruel man, hardened by a long life spent as a slave. . . sometimes he seems to take great pleasure in whipping a slave” (Douglass chapter 14). Those slave owners used their slaves as entertainment tools, because.