The general argument made by Frederick Douglass in chapters one and two in his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is that slavery is damaging and horrific. More specifically, Douglass argues that slavery is dehumanizing, evil, and has damaging effects on both the slaves and owners. To effectively convey his message, Douglass used certain rhetorical strategies such as appeals to ethics, imagery, and biblical allusions.
One of the major rhetorical strategies Douglass uses is appeals to ethics. This strategy helps him in describing the horrific effects of slavery by establishing credibility and trust with the reader. The first time this can be visibly seen is in the opening paragraphs of the book while he
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One such instance where imagery is used is in the opening paragraphs, where Frederick is describing his family. While describing his mom, he said “She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsy Bailey, both colored and quite.” By describing his family in this way, but not himself, we can visualize what he may have looked like if we didn’t have resources such as the internet. Another instance in which imagery is utilized is while Douglass is describing his master’s wife. When discussing her attitude toward female slaves, Douglass said that “she [was] never better pleased than when she [saw] them under the lash.” This statement makes us not just read about the hate, but makes the reader visualize the hate by seeing her smiling face while the slaves are suffering simply because of her jealousness of the female slaves being used to create more slaves and for her husband’s pleasure. A third use of imagery is clear when Hester was being whipped. Douglass described it in detail when he said “he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood came dripping to the floor.” This is one of the most powerful uses of imagery within the first two chapters because it clearly and plainly shows the violent, horrid, brutal effects of