Once again, Douglass illustrates how slaves were treated like animals. Because he never really knew his mother (who was already dead, at this point) nor felt connected with his grandmother, who lived far from him on the plantation, he felt he wasn't leaving anything of value behind when he left for Baltimore. Douglass again indicts the practice of breaking up slave families.
Baltimore was a revelation for Douglass. For the first time in his life, he encountered "a white face [Mrs. Auld] beaming with the most kindly emotions." He realized that he no longer need be always afraid of all whites, that there were some whites who would be kind to him. Douglass considers the move to Baltimore a turning point in his life, one which he attributes to divine providence; we should not overlook the fact that Douglass' religion frames the entire Narative. As we shall see later, the Narrative presents a battle of two religions—between Douglass' religion and the Christianity of slaveholders. Douglass shows us that the latter is characterized largely by hypocrisy.
