Comparing Invisible Man And The Narrative Of The Life Of Fredrick Douglas

The use of rhetorical devices has a significant impact on the audience since they can engage an audience, enhance communication, create emphasis, and persuade. Two books that strategically use rhetorical devices are Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. The novel Invisible Man is about a young black man struggling to find his identity because he is discriminated against for being a different race, which causes people to refuse to see him as a person. While the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass highlights events in Fredrick Douglass’s life from slavery to freedom. Both novels include the theme of racism because both highlight the impact of racism on black people, yet the topic of racism is

This novel is significant in that Ellison relates what it means to be invisible to what it means to be black in many aspects, like how individuals feel unseen by a society based on their race. The theme of invisibility becomes a metaphor for how certain individuals face racial injustice. The protagonist says, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me,” which demonstrates how his society views him, as invisible (Ellison, 1). The quote suggests that people can see the narrator, but they choose not to which is one of the narrator’s experiences of social invisibility. As the narrator gains a greater understanding of himself, he uses invisibility as a metaphor for the oppression that African American males suffer across society and this use of metaphors allows the audience to understand the severity of injustice toward African Americans. Ellison’s use of metaphors furthers the meaning behind the book by introducing the audience to the point of view of a black man through the book. For instance, Ellison’s invisibility was not a physical invisibility but an invisibility of his soul. He becomes lost in his society because the people around him shape him. Throughout the novel, the narrator finds it difficult

In his narrative, he shares how he tolerated being able to work for several slave owners and how he overcame slavery through his exposure to education. The novel’s purpose was to educate people about the cruelty of slavery and that black people are as capable as white people and to emphasize the purpose. Douglass uses tone to get his point across to bring acknowledgment of slavery. His tone throughout the novel was straightforward, reserved, angry, and emotional. An example of his emotional tone is this quote in which he starts yelling at Mr. Covey because he still had to work even after their confrontation, “You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip....” (Douglass, 106-107). The purpose of this quote was to show the desperation of an enslaved person trying to seek freedom. The use of his angry tone emphasized the desire for liberty and the pain of being rejected for his freedom. This tone adds emphasis, meaning, and emotion to the argument, which was that slave holding was harmful not just to slaves but also to slaveowners. This novel's tone allows Frederick Douglass to share his experience of slavery and raise