Frederick Douglass’ speech titled “What, to the slave, is the fourth of July” perfectly works to change the audiences viewpoints on the nationwide issue of slavery. Set into the Northern town of Rochester, the abolitionist appeals to the senses of the pro emancipation group of white people gathered before him. Achieved through varied shifts in tone and different rhetorical devices, Douglass perfectly explains the pure irony that the town is conveying, exposing their hypocritical standpoint on the nation’s most freedom based holiday, the Fourth of July. Douglas opens his speech by uniting himself with the audience, making them feel as though they are part of the same social class, and almost immediately segregating them in the same breath. Douglas writes “Fellow Citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions” revealing to …show more content…
Douglas writes “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” The word choice here once again unites Douglass in the audience, proving that there is a sort of writing style to the speech, a cycle of uniting and dividing and ending on a call to action against the south and their terrible ways. Another use for the word choice that Douglass has is that the connotation of the words is one of violence and battle, making the audience think that their side in the war is aided even by that of Mother Nature. The tone that Douglass establishes at this time is one that gives a call to action. Nothing has been done by the north that has significantly changed the conditions in the south, and Douglass has something to say about it. He repeatedly gives them suggestions on how to changes their methods and what to do about the human trafficking in the southern half of the