Rhetorical Analysis Of What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July

Many men have been granted the gift of speech, but few have employed it to the degree of Frederick Douglass, and this is exemplified in his famous speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” In section ten of this speech, Frederick Douglass expresses his potent, persuasive pathos, contributing to his overall deliberative genre of invention. This deliberative genre plays an essential role within the macroscopic movements of this piece as it establishes the narrative and groundwork for the arguments being made overall. Underpinning these larger argumentative movements are his grand stylistic choices in prose as they help display the importance and immediacy of the issues at hand. In section ten of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”

One could argue this subdermal move by Douglass is a work of logos, and while there are elements of all three rhetorical devices present throughout the speech, none of the argumentative moves that occur come to be without the emotional initiator holding up this argument. The language Douglass employs in the middle of this section also serves as a good example of his emotionally charged style. He appeals to the transformative power a nation has when it comes to treating the individual with respect, saying that there is no one who is so cold that “a nation’s sympathy could not warm him.” (Supplement, 135) Douglass places the burden of care on the nation but expects action to be carried out at the individual level. This contributes to Douglass’ overall aim of getting people to question what constitutes their heritage with other Americans, and even calls them to action to help return black people’s God given rights. This privation that Douglass embeds in his audience is what makes this section work so well as deliberative genre within the piece. Deliberative genres are characterized by their focus on solution and action towards the future, and this section, while not contributing solutions

A narration, according to Aphthonius, can be fictional, historical, or political. Section ten of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” is situated firmly as a political narrative. The political narrative, as described by Aphthonius in his Progymnasta, is the tool of the orator to be used in settling disputes. The dispute at hand is one of belonging and heritage. The archetypal narration is also broken down into six individual components being, the actor, the act, the time, the place, the manner, and the cause. In this narrative, Douglass describes a personal endeavor where he attempts to not only find a place for himself, but for every black man in America. In this narrative, Douglas is the actor, and the action is his attempt at reasoning his way to a common heritage with the American people. The time and place are de-emphasized in this narrative as brief generalities of being sometime in the past and occurring at a non-descript location. This is an intentional move by Douglass because it allows the emphasis to be placed on the manner and cause of the narrative which are two areas that carry greater rhetorical weight. The manner of his speech is one of an earnest and humble thinker who has been cast out from society through no fault of his own. This idea draws back to how Douglass’ question of