The dreadful experience of slavery starts the very minute a child is born. The child is separated from the mother in its infancy, breaking the bond between the mother and the child. Even after the mother is not allowed to meet the child often, and this again goes against the possibility of establishing an emotional bond. The child has to suffer the psychological impact of not knowing who the father is. Worse still are the whispers and speculations about who the possible father is. These emotional problems are compounded with physical harassment. The slaves are constantly whipped by not only their slave masters but also others such as overseers and the slave master’s white children. Those slaves who are mulatto children of the white master face worse problems because their white master’s wife becomes their arch enemy. Suspecting her husband’s favouritism towards his mulatto children, the wife pressurises the master to sell these slaves.

The women are in an even worse situation. We can see that they are used by white men to fulfil their lust. Their plight as field hands is pitiable. They can move out only after nightfall and have to be back at work at dawn unless they have permission from their masters. The fact remains that their cruel masters do not easily give them such liberty. The references to the women who have had their heads slashed and body completely bruised with the beatings given with the cow skin are a testimony to the inhuman treatment meted out to the slaves by their white masters.

Thus, the lesson, which is a first-hand narration of Frederick Douglass, makes the readers aware of the heart-wrenching plight of the slaves.