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My Bondage And My Freedom Frederick Douglass Language Analysis

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“One who is a slaveholder at heart never recognizes a human being in a slave” (Angelina Grimke). This quote was created to show the effect that slavery had on not only the slave, but the slaveholder. The slaveholder would dehumanize the slave to the point where the human was no longer recognizable; instead, the slave was property. Throughout this autobiography, Frederick Douglass uses language to portray the similarities and differences between the two sides. He allows the reader to spend a day in the life of a slave to see the effects from it. Within “My Bondage and My Freedom,” Douglass uses diction throughout the autobiography to display his tone of understanding, and how slavery affects both the slave and the slave holder which causes the mood of frustration for the reader. When communicating a tone of understanding in “My Bondage and My Freedom”, Douglass uses diction to support it. The author uses language to truly present his tone towards the text. Throughout the story he manages to stay quite neutral with his tone. He appears to be understanding of the slaveholder’s point of view. He took the time to step in the mistress’ shoes for a moment to understand what she was going through as well. An example of him being understanding is when Douglass stated that she was “benevolent.” He saw her kind side and was willing to recognize it. By using this diction, one can …show more content…

He truly tapped into the reader’s emotions to allow them a deeper connection with the story. To see the way that the slaveholder would dehumanize the slave to the point of seeing the slave as just a piece of property was truly heartbreaking. It was at moments such as this that the reader saw a glimpse of the mood, tone and theme. Douglass makes clear his tone of understanding, the theme of both the slave and the slaveholder being affected, and the mood of the reader being

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