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Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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“The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” written by Frederick Douglass himself, is a piece of literature about slavery. Born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Frederick Douglass, the voice within the text, was an abolitionist and activist who wanted to reveal the cruelness of slavery. Douglass decided to expose slavery by writing his story down in 1845, making his age roughly 27 years old. Throughout the narrative, Douglass uses ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the readers that his story is the truth and to establish credibility by exposing the barbaric ways of slavery. Through the use of rhetorical devices, Douglass reveals that the slaveholders prove their looks and their words work together by the heartlessness …show more content…

He states, “And to cap the climax of their base ingratitude and fiendish barbarity, my grandmother, who was now very old…and her present owners finding she was of but little value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age…they took her to the woods…and then made her welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there in perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to die” (Douglass 61). Douglass appeals to pathos by using a periodic sentence for emphasis, which persuades the readers before the final point is even made. The suspenseful points leading up to the final point are there to guide the reader in a sentimental way, creating a tug at the reader’s …show more content…

By using his own life story, Frederick Douglass gives all those who read his narrative the harsh truth about slavery. He shows that his purpose is to abolish slavery because of the harmful and bestial ways the slave owners have towards the slaves. Douglass states his opinion near the end of the narrative, saying, “It is my opinion that thousands would escape from slavery, who now remain, but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends. The thought of leaving my friends was decidedly the most painful thought with which I had to contend” (Douglass 111). Through this personification, Douglass is able to express that the reason other slaves have not been able to escape is because of the love they have for their friends and family. By Douglass using the personification, the readers understand the logic he is trying to convey. Douglass shows that the slaves felt it was only logical to stay with their friends, rather than abandoning them and risking their

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By appealing to the emotions of the reader, Frederick Douglass can build his argument of how awful slavery was and how the slave owners used Christianity to justify what they did. In the book, Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the author uses his language to bring meaning to what he is writing. He creates an emotional connection to the reader using pathos, and builds his argument using the credibility of others, using ethos. In his book he uses his words to prove his argument to the reader of how the slave owners would use Christianity to justify slavery and violence, and how slavery affected everyone who was

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As Douglass said, “as I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing” (6). This shows that as Douglass wanted to become more free, he found himself wanting to die rather than continue on living and experiencing the pain he has to go through everyday as he “found [himself] regretting [his] own existence” (7). Included with the emotional appeal is the fact that Douglass is expressing fear that the only way in becoming free would be running away to the North as he was talking to the Irishman who Douglass believed could be treacherous as “white men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and the, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters” (7). Overall, the effect of the story allows the readers to grasp Douglass’ emotion at a young age whom encountered a very large situation in America at that

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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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In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.

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Douglass’s Narrative writings show us that the masters ignore their slaves, and keep them ignorant and uneducated. They wanted their slaves to know that the slaves were born as slaves, and there was no way out to get rid of being a slave. The masters of the slaves wanted their slaves to accept and know that slavery was natural. The slaveholders did not want their slaves to write and read because if they knew to write and read, the slavery might have been ended after a while. Another point was to control over the slaves by leaving them ignorant.

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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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The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

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