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. Frederick Douglass focuses mostly on appealing emotionally to pathos through the use of imagery. He writes, “there were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such.” He again appeals to pathos when describing the eating portions. Douglass explains the eating troughs used for children and says “few left the trough satisfied.” Douglass illustrates the cruel conditions slaves faced, from the bare sleeping quarters to the harsh whippings received. This effects the reader by helping them visualize the conditions the slaves were placed in. He chose to do this to inform those who weren’t aware of what was happening inside the gated properties. Douglass next establishes credibility through the use of ethos. He begins his narrative by giving background information and stating that he has “no accurate knowledge” of his age. Douglass implies that he can be trusted because of his own personal experience.
To continue his persuasion, Douglass uses selection of detail and different tones to make his view known. When describing some aspects of slavery, Douglass’ use of detail opens society’s eyes to injustice. In one case, when describing the whipping of his Aunt Hester, he includes details that encompass sight- “the warm, red blood… came dripping to the floor,” sound- “amid heart-rending shrieks,” and emotion- “I was so horror-stricken… I hid myself in a closet” (Douglass, 24). By including facts covering many senses, he provides the reader a chance to piece together the scene, giving them perspective. If society has all the details, it becomes easier for them to pass an accurate judgment of slavery. His detail, or lack thereof,
Frederick Douglass uses pathos to draw empathy from the readers throughout the book. He does this by giving his own personal experiences with extensive detail. Beginning the book with information about his mother, father, and his birth. He quotes, “ My mother and I were seperated when I was but an infant-before I knew her as my mother.
Through the use of various anecdotes, Frederick Douglass illustrates the brutality suffered by the slave; the reader reacts emotionally to these incidents. For instance when Douglass talks about how the slaves are beaten and mistreated he discusses a slave who was shot since he refused to obey his master: ”and in an instant poor Demby was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight”(39). In this quote Douglass shows how mistreated the slaves were and makes the reader feel sad that a slave would be shot before given another chance to listen to his master. Also he makes us feel anger at the master that after an instant of disobeying the master's a slave would be killed and the body would be left to just sink down into the water. Similarly,
In the male narrative by Frederick Douglass he is persuading the reader by using pathos. Douglass describes his beating and how helpless he left when he was he was a slave. He describes how every kick could be felt and every drop of blood could be heard. He is worked until his breaking point and then was beat for stopping. The master wouldn’t tolerate stopping even if it was for the good of Douglass’s health. The female narrative by Harriet Jacobs represents having to leave behind her children to set them free. Jacobs has abandon her eight and five year old children to eventually save them. Females can never truly be free because they have to take care of their family and be selfless, but males can put themself first with no consequences.
Douglass uses pathos to describe life as a slave. Page 12 states “ The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them”.” He uses strong words to build an emotional connection to reader describing how the songs of slavery affect him. He uses Logos when he explains the amount of physical pain slaves experience. Page 21 states “ Breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick, so that the poor girl expired in a few hours afterward. “ This is a logical explanation that the overseer Mr. Gore was a cruel and merciless man. Douglass uses Ethos almost throughout the entire book because he establishes credibility when he describes his life as a slave. Page 1 explains “ I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. “ Slaves were never given their real birth date, so Frederick Douglass never knew his accurate
How does Fredrick Douglass make an effective argument against slavery? Book, "The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass", by Fredrick Douglass, Fredrick was a slave practically most of his childhood. Fredrick Douglass talk about his ups and downs, and really explain how slavery is unmoral, and unjust. Slavery caused god people to do really bad things. In reality, being more religious cause the master to be even more cruel. Fredrick considered the worst slave owners to be more religious people. Fredrick Douglass uses ethos, pathos, and logos to support his argument against slavery.
For a man that was brought up not knowing his birthday, beaten for wanting to learn, and tortured for not perfectly completing the task asked by his master, he; Frederick Douglass had the ability to write an articulate novel explaining in detail, the hardships of being a slave. In the novel, it is prevalent that Douglass came from nothing and reinvented himself into an affluent abolitionist and writer. Rhetorical devices furthered Douglass’s argument by making it known that the way he writes and speaks has no effect on the torture and violence he endured. Also the rhetorical devices added emphasis that the subject of slavery matters.
Slavery is a horrible condition. In the Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass tells his story of growing up as a slave and then becoming a freeman. Douglass speaks of the horrors of slavery and the beauty of freedom. Douglass uses figures of speech, diction, and repetition to convey his feelings of excitement, insecurity and loneliness on escaping from slavery and arriving in New York in 1838.
Throughout American history, mankind has made arguments about race, whether its about who had it worse or who paved the way for equality. This situation comes into play when it comes to the story of escaped slave, Frederick Douglas. Frederick was a wide known and well traveled abolitionist. Many people in the north became abolitionists, as well as some white southerners along with the slaves and freed POC. Many have credited slavery being abolished to the white abolitionists rather than the strong POC and slaves that helped fight for abolition. Frederick Douglas was different from the white abolitionists in a way that, if a reader were to look at a white abolitionist’s reason for abolishing slavery it would all be because they found it cruel,
Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.
Noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass, in his self titled slave narrative addresses the indescribable sadness that the slaves were experiencing, which they portrayed through song. He intensely describes the emotions that he hears within the songs of the slaves. In the passage Douglass shows how the slaves believe that they feel, versus how they really feel, and he does this this by changing the tone throughout the passage. He uses these tones to make the reader fully feel the helplessness that the slaves feel and recognize the effects that slavery had on people.
Nelson Mandela said, “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” One such man, Frederick Douglas, wrote “From What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on 5 July 1852.” He argues that even though blacks and whites went to fight in the war to be free, that promise was not kept to the blacks. Douglass persuades a northern, white audience, to oppose slavery and favor abolition. Douglass wants to remind abolitionist and White Americans that July 4 was not a celebration for slaves and former slaves. Independence Day only made slaves remember that they were made promises for freedom that were not kept.
In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.
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.
Frederick Douglass, the author of the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass was a self-taught slave that was able to escape the brutality of slavery in the year of 1838. Frederick Douglass’s book is separated into 3 main sections, including, a beginning, middle, and end. The purpose of the narrative is to improve the audience's understanding of Douglass’s experience of being a slave, the horrible treatment slaves received, and how Douglass was able to overcome and escape slavery. All throughout the narrative, Douglass uses many rhetorical devices, including, diction, imagery, and syntax, which helps the audience understand, one of his main chapters, chapter 5. In this chapter Douglass implies that the overall purpose is to emphasize the animalistic, inhuman treatment slaves received, how Douglass felt about leaving Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, and his luck of being able to move to Mr. and Mrs. Auld's.