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John Louis And Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Devices

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Rhetorical devices are essential in developing a form of persuasiveness to an audience. Freedom fighters are examples of individuals who utilize rhetorical devices. They strive to achieve this goal of persuading listeners to grow their voices due to the fact that it benefits them to have more people assist to fight for the rights of minorities. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Fredrick Douglass are some of many freedom fighters. During their time, the U.S. did not treat African Americans with the same respect as they did white Americans. As a result of this, African Americans started to fight for equality by organizing protests, boycotting, and giving speeches. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Fredrick Douglass all fought for …show more content…

was one of the most significant African American freedom fighters in America. He gave his well-known speech, “I Have a Dream”, on August 28, 1963, to an audience of about 250,000 people. King presents his speech using symbolism, personification, and euphemism to convey to his audience how he feels about how African Americans are being treated. He says, “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.” [King, 1963]. King symbolizes the “long night of captivity” to slavery to give his audience a feeling of what it might’ve felt like to be enslaved. King also states, “...the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” [King, 1963]. To summarize his words. King is saying that African Americans are trapped due to the treatment of white Americans. They can’t escape the segregation, discrimination, and poverty America has put them in. Lastly, he says, “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” [King, 1963]. Martin Luther King Jr. uses euphemism in this quote. He doesn’t give a direct answer but instead describes the feeling or action, almost like

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Slavery is a humongous topic involving both slaves and former slaves. The story of Frederick Douglass is one such story. Douglass was born into slavery at Holm Hill Farm in Talbot County, Maryland. Douglass suffered punishments, including beatings throughout his time as a slave. Frederick Douglass successfully uses vast quantities of rhetorical devices to illuminate the horror and viciousness of slavery, along with the need to eliminate slavery.

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He had various strategies. His mistress started to teach him. She was nice to him at first. His mistress went from a kind woman to someone who realized that it is dangerous to teach a slave to read and write. She always had room for the poor, hungry and naked.

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Reals of Slavery The powerful rhetoric, through purposeful words, anecdotes, and details show how they influence America to see the evils of slavery. The evils of slavery demonstrate how the slaves were whipped and shows this with rhetoric words in his autobiography “Frederick Douglass”. Powerful rhetoric helps Douglass influence for the abolitionist movement. Douglass uses powerful words to show the evils of slavery for the abolitionist movement.

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King makes the reader appreciate his acts and their lack of violence after they have considered how much worse the circumstances could be. King continues in paragraph thirty by saying, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained….” King describes to the reader that man can only be oppressed and disadvantaged for so long before they take a stand for freedom.

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When it refers to the African Americans being in the corners of society it is another example of diction in this quote, giving the audience an impression of being outcast. King also uses imagery to prove his point in his speech. Imagery is detail that can appeal any of a person's five senses. " (...) Little black boys and little black girls will join hands with little

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In both the letter and his speech he uses metaphors to expose segregation as a negative concept. In the letter, he mentions that African Americans are in a “shadow of deep disappointment” (376). King uses this metaphor to illustrate

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828 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass, born a slave and later the most influential African American leader of the 1800s, addresses the hypocrisy of the US of maintaining slavery with its upheld ideals being freedom and independence on July 4th, 1852. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. Introducing his subject, Douglass reminds his audience about the dark side of America for slaves, in sharp, surprising contrasts with the apparent progressivity within the nation. He first notices “the disparity,” that “the sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and deaths to me,” as an African-American former slave. It is surprising for the audience to hear that the Sun does not bring him any prosperity, that the Sun, the source of life on earth, brings him destruction.

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The autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written in 1845 in Massachusetts, narrates the evils of slavery through the point of view of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass is a slave who focuses his attention into escaping the horrors of slavery. He articulates his mournful story to anyone and everyone, in hopes of disclosing the crimes that come with slavery. In doing so, Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies to make effective arguments against slavery. Frederick Douglass makes a point to demonstrate the deterioration slavery yields from moral, benevolent people into ruthless, cold-hearted people.

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Slavery is equally a mental and a physical prison. Frederick Douglass realized this follow-ing his time as both a slave and a fugitive slave. Douglass was born into slavery because of his mother’s status as a slave. He had little to go off regarding his age and lineage. In the excerpt of the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave us one of one of the most rhetorically moving speeches ever given. Titled as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” he read this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”. As a civil right mover he gave this great speech to all Americans (black and white) so that he could give off the idea of equality on the same level. Because of his crowd of mix races King made sure to make his speech imploring to all no matter what the race that they may be. He uses metaphorical imagery, powerful diction,and symbolism to create an impact on the audience.

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He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of

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The fourth of July and slaves really don’t mix. Frederick douglass was born as a slave and he does a speech on the fourth of july and they are thinking that he is going to give a whora speech but he dont do that it 's the complete opposite of what they thought. In frederick douglass, Hypocrisy of American Slavery he attacks the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom and independence with speeches, parades and platitudes, while, within its borders, nearly four million humans were being kept as slaves. Overall douglass has explained his speech through emotional,ethical,logical appeal and through rhetorical questions.

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Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Frederick Douglass himself, is a brutally honest portrayal of slavery’s dehumanizing capabilities. By clearly connecting with his audience’s emotions, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices, including anecdotes and irony, to argue the depravity of slavery. Douglass clearly uses anecdotes to support his argument against the immorality of slavery. He illustrates different aspects of slavery’s destructive nature by using accounts of not only his own life but others’ alsoas well.

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In 1963, Martin Luther King delivered one of the most influential and impactful speeches in history. King's I Have a Dream speech was consistently powerful assertions of emotional appeals, repetition and paradox. In King’s speech, he utilizes pathos to build a relationship between his black and white audience. This is evident through his references to both  black and white children and the history of slavery which appealed to the audience members of the older generation.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

This reference in particular evokes the strongest emotional response from black people because many African Americans revered Lincoln for his decision to sign the revolutionary Emancipation Proclamation, and how the document symbolized a free future for slaves--the ancestors of the blacks in the crowd. But the next few lines following this allusion also persuades those ignorant of how little things have changed by highlighting the “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” that blacks still suffer from despite the hundred year gap. Here, he uses the connotations of “manacles” and “chains” to evoke a negative emotional response from the audience, especially from those unaware of the need to change, causing their opinion to match the speaker’s: against segregation. Additionally, King weaves biblical allusions into his speech to appeal to the Christians within the crowd. He uses the “dark and desolate valley of segregation” to illustrate the injustice African Americans have endured for centuries and juxtapositions it with the “sunlit path of racial justice” to exemplify a future where true freedom exists for

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