One of the essential components of becoming a slave is the brutal beatings delivered to ensure the authority of the slave owners over the slave. The elimination of essential familial ties is also part of the process of creating a slave. The elimination of public and private life, and the formation of a secretive existence are also part of the slave-making process. Douglass describes this process because he wants to emphisize the fact that he was born a human being like every other man, but because of the instution of slavery he is made into something "less than" a human being. Furthermore, Douglass wants his readers to understand that any person in similar circumstances would experience a similar outcome.
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