In this and the next chapter, Douglass explores how slavery is detrimental to whites. The Narrative, after all, is an advocacy statement. Douglass wants to convince his white readers in the North and South that slavery is bad on moral, legal, religious, and economic grounds. Here, Douglass shows us how slavery corrupts the morality of whites: Initially, Mrs. Sophia Auld was a kind and industrious person, who treated Douglass like a genuine human being because prior to meeting Douglass, she had never owned a slave. In the beginning, Sophia Auld did not understand that teaching Douglass to read and write would free his mind, a first step toward physical freedom. But after her husband explained to her that freeing Douglass' mind could lead her to losing her property (that is, Douglass himself), she changed her attitude.
Douglass ends this chapter by presenting the horrifying story of Mary, a neighboring slave. He does this because he wants to show that even though slavery in the cities is comparatively better, it is still unacceptable. His point is that wherever there is slavery, there will be mistreated slaves.
