"There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States." Frederick Douglass, who was a former slave, spoke in front of many crowds of people surrounding the topic of slavery. He spoke about how terrible and embarrassed we should be because the United States was the last country to give up using African Americans as slaves. Douglass used ethos pathos and logos all throughout his speech, and it caught the attention of everyone it that audience. Frederick Douglass spoke in front of a crowd of people on the fourth of July gathering, about freedom and the rights of the whites.
By clearly establishing logos, ethos and pathos, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices to aid him in his argument against slavery. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass uses many strategies and examples that make logical sense to the reader and communicates them by creating a logos, or “logical appeal”, that describes the clarity of the claim and the logic of its supporting details. One way that Douglass establishes the immorality of his situation is through the use of irony to reveal the flaws in the logic of slavery. For example, when Douglass was owned by a man named Colonel Lloyd, his attention was brought to the injustice served to a pair of slaves that were in charge of their master’s prized horses: “It was by no means easy employment; for in nothing was Colonel Lloyd more particular than in the management of his horses.
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.
Independence Day, commonly referred to by the people of the United States as the Fourth of July, is a day where the people of this great nation celebrate the day our founding fathers adopted the Declaration of Independence. There are parades, food, fireworks, and family harmony during the celebration. Although these are the things that come to mind now, during the pre-Civil War era this specific day had not always been so jubilant. In 1852, Frederick Douglass--who is known as the most influential and sagacious African-American leader of the 1800s--was invited to give a speech to commemorate the Fourth of July.
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.
Modern Day Slavery We will never quite understand what it was like to experience slavery. While there are many different types of slavery that exist today, such as forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude, to name a few, we are lucky to have never experienced or witnessed, the type of slavery that great American abolitionist Frederick Douglass endured. In the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we as readers encounter an in-depth description of the beatings that Frederick had a testimony for. We genuinely do not realize how much privilege we hold in the 21st century. Douglass saw horrifying, blood drawing, and angry beatings of his loved ones, was unaware of how old he was, was not granted an education, and so much
I had some spare time this summer and decided to read Frederick Douglas autobiography. It changed my perspective on slavery. I know what you are thinking, that slavery is a “positive good”. You think that the slaves are less intelligent than whites and are childlike and they need to be taken care of. You believe they live comfortably, that they are not over worked and exchange for the work they do are well fed and well clothed.
Throughout Douglass's speech, he exceeds expectations by adding excellent examples of ethos, pathos, and unique tone. These examples help the audience see his viewpoints and helps him connect with them. The literary devices used in his speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, aided in his fight against
On July 5th 1852 Fredrick Douglass gave a speech to the anti-slavery society to show that all men and woman are equal no matter what. Douglass uses ethos, pathos, and logos in his speech to make look reasonable. Douglass demonstrates ethos by speaking in first person that of which he had experience slavery: "I was born amid such sights and scenes"(Douglass 4). When Douglass spoke these words to the society, they knew of his personal knowledge and was able to depend on him has a reliable source of information. The anti-slavery society listening to his every word, considering that Douglass spoke with integrity, knowledge and emotions.
In the narrative “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”, Frederick Douglass shows the religious irony in southern slaveholding culture. Douglass gives the reader personal accounts of how brutally some slaves were treated on the plantations. Douglass also contrast the differences between southern and northern slaveholding culture. In the appendix, Douglass argues that there a major differences between Christianity shown to us in the South and Christianity shown to us in the Bible. Douglass gives us personal insight to the life of a slave and their treatment.
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.
In 1776, on July 4th, the 13 English colonies officially declared their freedom from England. However, as the years progressed, slavery became incorporated into everyday American life. In 1852, Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was called upon to deliver a speech to celebrate America’s independence; however, he censured Americans for saying they were a “country of the free”. In the speech, Hypocrisy of American Slavery, Frederick Douglass declares that Americans should not be celebrating their freedom when there are slaves living in the country. He uses emotional appeal, ethical appeal, and rhetorical questions to convince his audience that Americans are wrong celebrating freedom on the 4th of July when slavery exists in their country.
PAGE 2 In the Narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, he uses this text to explain his purpose in “throwing light on the American slave system”, or show it for what it really is, as well as show his position on how he strongly believes slavery is an issue that needs to be addressed and how it differs from those who defended slavery, with experiences from his own life to support his argument. Douglass uses experience from his early days as a young slave to throw light on the aspect of physical abuse. According to his narrative, Douglass states, “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder.
he uses bold words and biting criticism to call attention to the gross injustices and hypocrisy of slavery in the United States. In the opening remarks of his speech, Douglas provides heart-wrenching descriptions to pull his audience into the lives of their fellow
What common themes bond together the literary works of the 1800’s? Frederick Douglass and Kate Chopin both realized that people were not being treated fairly and thus it influenced their writing. Through personal experiences and observations Frederick Douglass conveyed how African Americans in My Bondage and My Freedom were treated unfairly. Kate Chopin used the plot to show how women were treated unfairly in “The Story of an Hour”. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass tells of some of the experiences he went through as a slave.
