Suffering and hardship are pervasive themes throughout the book, as Douglass shares both the physical and mental torments he faced as a slave. The narrative is so full of tales of savagery and cruelty on the part of the masters that it is difficult to choose which ones to share. There is an incident where a slave named Demby was brutally beaten by his master, ran to the stream to cool his wounds, and was hit by the master for not returning when called. As Douglass describes it, “his mangled body sank from sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he lay” (Douglass 246). Readers at the time of the book's release must have been moved by such stories; they were not inclined to think of slaves as human beings capable of such suffering, but Douglass provided them with undeniable proof that a slave is as much a human being as they were. This message is important to keep in mind today, as we are taught to fear or despise groups that are different from us in some way; Douglass's narrative shows us that human beings have much more in common than their differences would suggest. The resistance is best expressed by the fact that in the most difficult moments and when the slaves felt at their limit, they sang songs while they worked. These songs were not sung for joy, but for sadness and to pass the time while the slaves worked. “The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by it, only as a sorrowful heart is relieved by its tears” (Douglass 242). As we can see, Douglass and the other slaves in his situation experienced humiliation and pain that are difficult to imagine. At the same time, they found ways to preserve a sense of themselves and their culture, which we can read about and admire in Douglass. '