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Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Devices

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Douglass Rhetorical Genius
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, a autobiography describes the life of a young slave in the 1800’s. Douglass accurately illustrates the inhuman practices of slavery through rhetorical devices, such as: imagery, irony, and anecdotes.
Douglass employs the use of imagery throughout the book to depict the horrors of slave life and the injustice it delivers. The evils of slavery are seen not only in the accounts of the beatings recorded, but also by the cruel working environments described. “About three o’clock of that day, I broke down; my strength failed me; I was seized with a violent aching of the head, attended with extreme dizziness; I trembled in every limb.”(64) Douglass describes …show more content…

“...Living but a short distance from where I used to live, murdered my wife’s cousin, a young girl between fifteen and sixteen years of age, mangling her person in the most horrible manner, breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick, so that the poor girl expired in a few hours afterwards.”(34) Douglass’s use of anecdotes throughout the novel, strengthen his argument of the inhuman acts slavery commits. Because slaves only had the rights their masters condoned, any punishment a master decided on was permitted. As humans everyone makes mistakes, but because slaves are dehumanized, mistakes are practically a death sentence. Slaves across the eastern half of America were killed for flaws in their human nature, and that reveals a yearn for justice in all readers. To add to the unruly action, Douglass writes about his loyal grandmother who raised her owner, only to be abandoned by him. “...finding she was of but little value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age, and complete helplessness fast stealing over her once active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there is perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to die.”(51) Douglass’s use of anecdotes in the book gather the

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Douglass’s descriptions of the slave trade were extremely vivid, from the details of how American’s viewed slaves, to the sounds of whips cracking and how a woman was encumbered by the weight of the child she carried and the chains that she wore. These details would bring readers to know what it was like to be in a slaves shoes at that time. His speech is driven by first had accounts of the degradations of slavery and would not be credible if it wasn’t for this fact. I believe that Douglass’s tone throughout the speech was hopeful, he enforced the cause of the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society with the hopes of making the United States more complete when slavery ended.

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When slavery was abolished in 1865, it was a critical turning point in the journey towards equality for African Americans. Prior to the eradication of slavery writers like Frederick Douglass sought to free millions of slaves in America. While slavery was a well-known and growing problem in the south, it wasn’t as widely recognized in the north. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave‎ Douglass recounts his experiences and tribulations as a slave. In the narrative Douglass effectively uses rhetorical imagery, antithesis, and irony in order to expose the harsh reality of slavery during the 19th century.

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Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis A famous slave and abolitionist in the struggle for liberty on behalf of American slaves, Frederick Douglass, in his autobiography published in 1845, portrayed the horrors of captivity in the South. Douglass’s purpose in the narrative was to show how slaves lived, what they experienced, and how they were unquestionably less comfortable in captivity than they would have been in a liberated world. He implemented a didactic tone to portray the viciousness of slave-owners and the severe living conditions for the slaves. Employing his experience as a slave, Douglass accurately expressed the terrors that he and the other slaves endured. In chapter six, Douglass described his involvement with his mistress,

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For example, Frederick was taken from his mother at a very young age and never allowed to have a relationship with her.   The language Douglass used in the narrative was direct.  Direct language convinces the audience that slavery is evil.   One important rhetoric theme Douglass conveyed in his message is pathos.

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This article discusses how Frederick Douglass uses irony, rhetorical devices, and facts to argue that slavery is not sanctioned by the Constitution. - Frederick Douglass was an American slave born in Maryland in 1817. He escaped slavery at the age of twenty and became an impressive orator. His work is a prime example of what can be accomplished when using rhetorical devices effectively. In his narrative, Douglass cites examples from the Constitution that support his argument against slavery.

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By using this metaphor he creates a comparison for himself and the reader and shows an example of his reasoning. Douglass’ use of short sentences also aid in creating a desperate

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In the same page, he also tells how a woman killed his wife’s cousin in the cruelest way. Afterwards, he talks about the horrible feeling this murder produced throughout the entire community. Douglass also recounts the experience of watching the slaveholder whip his aunt until she was covered in blood and the pleasure the slaveholder seemed to take in it. The graphic description of her abuse makes readers feel the same anger Douglass must have

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The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass (University of Virginia Library. Web. 15 Dec. 2015) puts readers in a position that allows them to understand the great struggles and misfortunes that came with being an American slave and how Frederick Douglass’ managed to escape from the grasp of slavery and find his own liberating freedom. A daring feat that can be defined by a series of epiphanies, a man’s great determination, and the constant regrowth of a broken man’s soul. From the excerpt, previously shown above, Douglass depicts a vivid image of just how severe the work conditions of slaves were, how difficult it was to please a slave master, and how horribly a man can be ripped of his will.

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Frederick Douglass’s Hope for Freedom Hope and fear, two contradictory emotions that influence us all, convicted Frederick Douglass to choose life over death, light over darkness, and freedom over sin. Douglass, in Chapter ten, pages thirty-seven through thirty-nine, of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, utilizes various rhetorical techniques and tone shifts to convey his desperation to find hope in this time of misery and suffering. Mr. Covey, who Douglass has been sent to by his master to be broken, has succeeded in nearly tearing all of Douglass’s dreams of freedom away from him. To expound on his desires to escape, Douglass presents boats as something that induces joy to most but compels slaves to feel terror. Given the multiple uses of repetition, antithesis, indirect tone shifts, and various other rhetorical techniques, we can see Douglass relaying to his audience the hardships of slavery through ethos, the disheartening times that slavery brings, and his breakthrough of determination to obtain freedom.

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Douglass begins uses paradox to show how slavery was inhuman by acknowledging how slave overseers treated the slaves when did wrong or doing what was not told by them. ‘’ He would whip her to make her scream and whip her to make her hush. ’’(page 5). Douglass appeals

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All the terrible and inhuman things that Douglass describes are the practical and usual things that happened in his time, they are not extraordinary. His true stories and multiple details from his life give the reader an idea about the effects of slavery on the life of different people in the

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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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Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).

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With this, Douglass is addressing the topic of slavery and whether to abolish it or not. And goes about telling the hardships he went through.

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