Similarities Between Twain And Frederick Douglass

Although chapter four of “The Boy’s Ambition” by Mark Twain and chapter five of Frederick Douglass's “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” were written in the 1800’s and tell about the author's childhood, they are written very differently. While Twain uses exaggeration to create humor, Douglass uses a formal diction to create ethos. The use of these writing techniques make each piece of writing believable and lasting. Although the situation for each author was very different, the similarities between the texts show the similarities in their character.
The authors and texts were both written in the early 1800’s, and are about each author’s childhood experience. Both strived to be objective. Douglass made his writing with facts and no emotional descriptions, because readers doubted a former slave could be intelligent and write without bias. Twain wrote with honesty and moral superiority. Both authors use details and imagery to create ethos, because the details are evidence to the story’s credibility. Twain writes, “ the texas deck are fenced and ornamented with clean white railings,” this is an example of the details used in his text. Douglass uses a more serious tone to avoid emotion in his writing, “I was probably between seven or eight years old when I left Colonel Lloyd's

For example, Twain creates humor by using hyperboles and understatement, while Douglass uses no emotional words or word choice. Twain used a lighthearted yet semi-serious tone in his writing to give the best description of the story as possible. “[...] instantly a negro drayman, famous for his quick eye and prodigious voice, lifts up the cry, "S-t-e-a-mboat a-comin'!" and the scene changes!” This shows the semi-serious tone of Twain’s text. While Douglass was writing the facts of his life with objectivity, “I found no severe trial in my departure. My home was charmless; it was not home to me