Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

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.

In the passage, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American slave, Douglass depicts his experiences as a slave. He uses syntax and figurative language to appeal to his audience.

In chapter seven of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass is finally aware of his approximate age, and is burdened with the thought of being a “slave for life.” At the age of 12, it is not very encouraging to be given the description of a “slave for life.” Douglass uses his newfound reading and writing skills to cleverly comprehend the book The Columbian Orator, and the speeches from the Catholic emancipation it contains, in his favor. The book Douglass discovers does a good job of supporting his invalidation of slavery as well as providing him with knowledge and reasonable arguments.

Frederick Douglass was a wise and brave man that grew up in the American slave system. He knows first hand the hardships of being owned by someone and having no way to escape that kind of life. After escaping from slavery he decided to write a book on the hardships of his life. In the book he describes the life of the slave and the many aspects that are not usually learned. These aspects describe the life of a slave in a point of view that is not usually looked at; the point of view of a slave.

“I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their age as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant” (Page 41). Slaves were not informed how old they were or when their birthday was exactly. They were just as equal as horses, as stated by Douglass. He guessed what his age was because he heard his master say, sometime in 1835, he was about seventeen years

In lines 18-32, Douglass describes what was an abnormality in those times- a white woman (his master’s wife) taking pity on him, and teaching him to read and write. Douglass’s juxtaposition of his master’s wife’s attitude toward him- which was one of a “pious, warm and tender-hearted” nature, to the way the rest of society perceived him as a “mere chattel” helped highlight just how abnormal her behavior was. This contrast further developed through the fact that to treat a slave as a human being back in those days was “not only wrong, but dangerously so,” yet despite that commonplace assertion found all throughout life back then, his master’s wife still treated Douglass no different than she would treat a friend. This section of the text elaborated upon her kind-hearted nature, which led her to pity and help those worse off than her, no matter how society perceived it. Douglass emphasized this point by using mostly long, well constructed sentences that were filled with figurative language. This syntax helped elaborate upon the tone of newfound hope in this section, by demonstrating his flowing thoughts and feelings, due to his newfound freedoms. This syntax helped emphasize the fact that Douglass had acquired the very knowledge slave owners sought to keep from him, therefore acquiring the power that had been kept from him his whole life.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a fantastic speech to a group of abolitionists in the city of Rochester, New York. He briefly summarized and praised the history of the United States, but then extremely eloquently spoke about the current situation that African slaves inhabited. Before I started reading the speech for myself, I saw the length and was a bit put off. However, when I started reading the speech, I found Douglass’ style to be incredibly impressive, and I enjoyed reading the whole speech. I took notice quite early in the speech, of almost a foreshadowing of where his speech was going to take a turn to. Douglass was clever to make a distinction between those of slaves and non-slaves by using “yours.” Although he recognizes the greatness of the country and its origins, he soon points out that the African slaves cannot celebrate such histories. For instance, he states that the fourth of July is, “a day that reveals to him (the

In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there are many extremely important points made through out. Frederick Douglass writes about many heart-wrenching experiences that he, and other slaves went through during his years of slavery. The five key points that stood out to me most were the loss of Frederick’s innocence, the power and importance of education, leaving the plantation to Baltimore, his year with Covey, and freeing his mind from slavery. In the beginning of his narrative Douglass goes on to explain the hardships that many slaves go through.

This is hypocritical in that the white men make these values and traditions a staple of their lives, yet when it comes to slaves, they seem to go away. He also believes that, though he will use “the severest language”(Douglass) he can, he firmly believes that “not one word shall escape me that any man whose… not blinded by prejudice, or… a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just”(Douglass). So he sincerely believes that the average human being also knows that the treatment of slaves is unjust and unethical, but they choose not to act on these thoughts. His view, coming from the eyes and thoughts of slaves across America, show how hypocritical the nation actually is in both one sided values and not acting upon their knowledge that what is going on is wrong.

Originally published in 1845, the autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave written by himself, displays Douglass’ humility, compassion, intelligence, and fortitude when the author expresses his views on slavery and inequality. He, an abolitionist, with the use of his narrative, strives to persuade his audience which consists of Northern Christians to learn more about slavery and its damaging effects so they can not only be convinced into feeling guilt, pity and sympathy, but also to act on their emotions and new revelations. Similar to his intentions, Sojourner Truth, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist, utilizes her Speech “Ain’t

African Americans are more than just slaves. African Americans are people that have dreams to pursue anything they want just as white people do. Throughout the novel “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” as written by himself, Douglass writes about his life during slavery and how it changed him into the man he became after he gained his freedom. He provides his own thoughts throughout this novel, which all appeal mainly to pathos. Also, Douglass provides examples of rhetorical analysis, such as chiasmus, loose sentences, and analogy. He wrote this novel to inform fellow slaves and abolitionists to stay hopeful and never give up, just as he did. He maintains a constant tone of depression and hope as he tells about his life story and being a slave. In this narrative, Douglass presents the argument that slavery is inhumane and needs to be discontinued.

America’s history is overrun with oppression and injustice based on race, ethnicity, and other traits that innocent victims have no control over. As a result, the reputation of the United States is forever tainted by it’s dark past, and still practices these surviving habits of hatred. Civil liberty issues faced since the establishment of the country have yet to be resolved because of the ever-present mistreatment, corruption in positions of authority, and the dehumanization of minorities.

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.

What the average person does not know about slavery is all of the inhumane behavior that was tolerated. To describe these acts as cruel would be an understatement, Douglass does not hold back on the tragedies he witnessed and he does not hold back on sharing them with the world. For so many years slave owners comforted themselves in the thought of the romantic image of slavery, claiming it was God’s will to let these people suffer, claiming that it was not an extreme environment. The only

According to Douglass, “They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to” (Douglass, 150). Douglass saw similarities between the struggles of the forefathers and black slaves, and he compelled his audience to recognize these similarities and follow the example of the forefathers.