Lucinda MacKethan writes “In Chapter Five, Douglass was told to bathe in preparation for his new employment in Baltimore; he responded by scrubbing off not just the ‘mange’ of his past life but almost ‘the skin itself’ in a kind of ironic baptism to make himself worthy of the ‘election’ by white masters that he next infers” (60). MacKethan associates this spiritual preparation with literacy, suggesting that Douglass’s baptism relates to the fact that he has been chosen for a situation that will lead to his literacy, which will result in his “salvation from slavery.”
In his discussion of what he characterizes as Douglass’s complicated relationship with the Aulds, William McFeely writes “By separating the boy from his relatives, the two had unwittingly seen to it that he had no family ties strong enough to keep him from trying to escape from slavery” (39). This relates to remarks Douglass makes early on in his narrative about “The ties that ordinarily bind children to their homes” being suspended for him, and the fact that the absence of his mother and the distance from his grandmother kept him from feeling close to his brother and sisters. McFeely’s observation contrasts Douglass’s experience with that of Harriet Jacobs, about whom Winifred Morgan wrote “Jacobs fears that if she runs away, the Flints, as retribution, would sell her children; yet she takes a chance on breaking the cycle of slavery because she fears even more having Ellen grow up and repeat her humiliation” (87). There don’t appear to be as many comparable bonds for Douglass.
Jacobs feeling that it would be better for her child to die than to continue living in slavery offers a parallel between Jacobs, Margaret Garner and Morrison’s Beloved. Furthermore, Jacobs’ reference to being “broken in,” or the idea of a mother being forced to observe the abuse of her children so regularly that she eventually accepts it, offers insight into something Frederick Douglass wrote. As he describes the first place where he lived, Douglass indicates that there was little to hold him there because his familial connections were disrupted by the business of slavery. Of his siblings, he writes, “the early separation of us from our mother had well nigh blotted the fact of our relationship from our memories.” Much like the daily experience of slavery results in Jacobs observation of mothers who’ve been traumatized to the point that they express little, as they watch their children being beaten, disruption of families during slavery severed the basic ties between relatives, resulting in situations like the one Douglass described.