Frederick Douglass Ethos Pathos Logos

After about nine chapters detailing his slave life, he says, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” (Douglass, 75) He then goes on to describe the turning point for him that sparked his quest for freedom. By structuring his narrative this way, he reveals both sides- how slavery broke him “in body, soul, and spirit” (Douglass, 73) and how it eventually “rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom” within him (Douglass, 80). In doing so, he gives the reader an insight into how he became himself, and reinforces the evils of slavery in the way it shapes a man’s life. Douglass’ use of diction and structure effectively persuades the reader of the barbarity and inhumanity that comes as a result of slavery.

The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is an autobiography in which Frederick Douglass reflects on his life as a slave in America. He writes this book as a free slave, in the North, while slavery was still running its course before the Civil War. Through his effective use of rhetorical strategies, Frederick Douglass argues against the institution of slavery by appealing to pathos and ethos, introducing multiple anecdotes, using satirical irony, and explaining the persuasive effects of slavery and reasoning behind keeping slaves uneducated.

This aspect is not so much for the reader but for Douglass and slaves to release all the things they have been through and what slave are subjected to in that era. Even though this country stands for freedom and liberty slaves are imprisoned and chained like animals or properties. As well as having the knowledge of an animal as said by Douglass “By far the larger part of the slave know little of their ages as horses knows of theirs”. He this is one of his many angers and distastes of how slaves are denied any rights to knowledge. Even more having deepening quotes of groups of slaves having the emotion that stayed in Douglass’s heart and mind forever “ they were tones loud, long, and deep;they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish”.

Pathos: emotion/value, a way of convincing an audience of an argument by an emotional response

He has shown that the “blessings in which you, this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common” (124). With the purpose of his speech firmly defined, he now has the liberty to expound upon the true evil of slavery that lurks in the shadow of hypocrisy. He employs the satirical technique of ridicule to expose the ugly nature of enslavement with equally ugly diction. Douglass’ disapproval ranges from “hideous” to “revolting” to “an outrage”, and culminates in the assertion that slavery is the “greatest sin and shame of America” (125). A far cry from the almost reverent tone of his opening statements, Douglass led his audience from the throes of a Fourth of July celebration to an intense degradation of the freedom they so

In Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, he writes in depth about his life as a slave. His intent for the book is to abolish slavery. He targets the white Northern men by using the three rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos, to convince his goal. He also portrays the religious aspect, in Christian values. Narrating his personal experiences with his masters and fellow slaves, he states reasons of the immorality of enslavement. Douglass argues that slavery ultimately dehumanizes slave owners and demonstrates that slavery is immoral.

In some ways, Douglass’ message of the cruelty in slavery is most effectively portrayed through his word choice and language, rather than the actual presentation of evidence. At one point, after witnessing several acts of extreme violence towards slave, and even some murders, Douglass sums up the events with a common phrase among slave holders, “it was worth a half cent to kill a nigger, and a half cent to bury one.” While this may not be an actual fact, it is very logical, and shows why the courts would never convict a white man for murdering a slave. By choosing to use this statement, it shows how well Douglass understands his surrounding, and how corrupt and violent they are. This statement devalues an entire race of people, and that alone speaks to the reader’s heart. The logic of the statement

To begin, Douglass uses imagery to describe the heart wrenching experience of a slave child on a plantation. Without adequate food or clothing, slave children begin the process of dehumanization. Denied blankets or beds, the children slept on the cold and damp floor and Douglass describes with horrid detail his “feet [being] so cracked with the frost, that the pen which [he is] writing might be laid in the gashes”(1836). This painful description creates empathy for a mistreated child whose only “crime” results from his birth to a black mother. In the most dehumanizing comparison, Douglass uses animal imagery to reveal the conditions and manner in which the children are fed. Douglass writes:

The “Declaration of Independence” was written by one of the most accomplished of our nation’s founders, Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration was written during a time in which American Colonists tried to resolve their issues with Great Britain. On the other hand, former slave Frederick Douglass gives a speech on the topic of the Fourth of July called “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”. Both men believed freedom was a right that is natural to all people. In order to persuade their audiences of this, each author uses ethos, pathos, and logos to support their argument.

When Douglass was a young boy, he witnessed for the first time a slave getting whipped, Douglass's first encounter was of extreme cruelty that slaveholders can have. The slave receiving the whipping is Douglass' Aunt Hester. By witnessing this Douglass sees that slaves are treated no better than animals, they lived in continuous fear of being beaten if they did not behave. The issue of freedom is here as well. Do these animals have more freedom then themselves, it seems so. The slave owners dehumanized the slaves with the power of the whip, showing the horrors of traditional slavery and property they have over slaves.

To display the common treatment of slaves, Douglass develops pathos when describing his first exposure to slavery and the brutal treatment of Aunt Hester. He gives a detailed description of her “heart-rending shrieks” when she was forced to endure countless lashings and beatings (Douglass, 24). Additionally, he describes the mentality of Captain Anthony, the slave owner, by stating that “the louder [Hester] screamed, the harder he whipped” (Douglass, 23). By describing the punishments that his aunt was forced to face and the deliberateness of Captain Anthony’s actions, Douglass develops pathos, which exposes the audience to the harsh nature of slavery and makes them pity the slaves who were forced to endure this treatment. It shows the audience that slaves were forced to endure pain if they did not listen to their masters and could not

For hundreds of years, slaves in America were separated from their families to be sold off like livestock to their slave owners, then forced to work and live in unimaginable conditions, and viciously beaten for something as little as a task not fully being met. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by the self-taught, abolitionist himself, Douglass shares some light on the inhumane treatment and hardships slaves were forced to overcome in his journey to free himself both mentally and physically from slavery. Douglass appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos in order to truly open his reader's eyes to the horrors of slavery, conveying his message that slavery must be abolished.

Douglass not only describes slaves as animals, but he describes slave treatment as if they were animals to further describe the horrendous lives of slaves. Slaves were fed food in troughs (36). By choosing the word “trough”, Douglass emphasizes the poor treatment of slaves; slaves were not good enough to be fed from bowls or plates, they were no better than animals. Douglass also compares women on the plantations to breeding animals. Women were expected to reproduce in order to increase their masters’ wealth, not to create a family. Women and children were separated before the child was a year old so they would not form familial bonds with one another. When Douglass’ own mother died, he compared it to a stranger dying because he had no connection with her (18). Slaves were not only thought of animals, but also fostered as animals. Douglass describes Mr. Covey as a “nigger-breaker”, Douglass was broken in “body, soul, and spirit” by

Douglass uses imagery to inform to convey the cruel treatment of slaves. Douglass broke the gate, so Mr. Covey whipped him “causing the blood to run, and raising ridges on [his] flesh as large as [his] little finger” (Douglass 222). He appeals to his audience's sense of sight to create a mental picture and to feel the mistreatment of the slaves. This will make the audience feel shocked because it reveals the

Slavery is a humongous topic involving both slaves and former slaves. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Story is one such story. Douglass suffered punishments, and watching others get punished, he uses those experiences to make his argument against slavery.Douglass’ tone in the narrative is sarcastic and dark. Frederick Douglass successfully uses vast quantities of rhetorical devices, illuminating the horror and viciousness of slavery, including the need to eliminate it.