Douglass claims that the power ofthat slaveholders have over their slaves is a result of the sense of fear they create through the use of excessive and irrational punishment. As the levels of punishment, and in turn fear, fluctuate, so does the power of the slaveholders. He uses a strand of punishment to illustrate this idea, and his idea of irrational punishment aids in his overall argument that slavery is irrational, unnecessary, and cruel.
“It was the blood stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass” (20). This quote uses a metaphor tohat likens slavery to hell, and this first comparison of thcle two makesrly it cllustratears how awful slavery is right from the beginning of the narrative. As Douglass passes through his “blood-stained gate” for the first time, his readers do as well. tThis is meant to shock and prepare the audience for the horrors to come.