Fredrick Douglass' Life Experiences Through Imagery And Irony One must struggle to find success when it is about Fredrick Douglass. Growing up, Douglass saw all the horrific acts that slaveholders did to their slaves, and now he can spread the word of what he saw and lived through. Throughout his works, the people can see all of the sufferings he and other slaves had to endure. Being a well-known activist in his period, many had to endure a lot. have heard the harsh realities that slaves were going through. However, he did not stop there; Douglass was mad about their treatment, so he used literary techniques like imagery and irony to convey the horror and violence seen in slavery. Nowadays, people know about the horrific acts of slavery, but …show more content…
During that time African Americans were not seen as people, so Douglass had to fight against problems regarding slavery and his humanity every time he had to deliver one of his works. Douglass being a former slave made his words more powerful since he had to endure a lot. Through the use of imagery in his work, Douglass addresses events he and other slaves had to endure, making a difference in how people reacted. There were many abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Gerrit Smith. Nevertheless, they were both white, so they could not show problems about slavery in the same manner as Douglass could. Furthermore when Douglass speaks about the treatment of slavery in his book "Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass." many people were interested, seeing how he used to be a slave. Though Douglass's words were impactful when talking about slavery, it was more impactful when he spoke about his own experiences. As Douglass expressed how his master was a brutal man who has no sympathy for his slaves he goes on to say how, "He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the …show more content…
Douglass showed the people how they are hypocrites by how they oppressed the slaves in their nation, yet go to other nations demanding to free the oppressed people. For that reason, Douglass says, "This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"(). The feelings Douglass has is his own, but also of the slaves. Liberty and freedom might be just words to the whites since that is all they have known, but for the slaves, this was a dream and goal. Douglass said the celebration is meant for the whites but not for him nor the slaves since they are still in chains. Douglass thought that