Fredrick Douglass, a now-known household name, who is known for his many trials and triumphs, writes the story of his life. In his narrative, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he retells the stories of his poor childhood, the transition into being a slave, and how his determination led him to become a free man. Douglass fits years and so much pain into an eleven-chapter book and does it so profoundly that the reader has no choice but to consider what Douglas encountered and the pain he endured. Throughout the book, Douglass emphasizes how knowledge was what he used to set him free, how slavery and slaveholders used slaves’ unawareness to perpetuate them, and the effect of slavery as a system. Being aware of the fact …show more content…
Covey and struggles mightily to complete the tasks set before him. He appears to be subjected to heavy whipping because of his clumsiness regularly. He is abused and overworked to the point of collapse, which occurs one day while he is working in the fields. He receives another savage beating from Covey as a result. After complaining to Thomas Auld, who then sends Douglass back to Covey, A few days later, Douglass resists Covey's effort to tie him up. During a two-hour physical struggle, Douglass finally defeats Covey. Law enforcement does not penalize Douglass, which is thought to be because Covey values his status as a "negro-breaker," which would be compromised if others knew what transpired. Douglass is assigned to reside on William Freeland's plantation when his one-year contract with Covey expires. Douglass makes remarks on the mistreatment that occurred under the more benevolent but more secular Covey and the relative tranquility under Freeland. Douglass makes friends with other slaves on Freeland's plantation and teaches them how to read. Before they can execute their escape plot, Douglass and a small group of slaves are apprehended, and Douglass is imprisoned. A week or so after his release, he is sent back to Baltimore, but this time to learn a trade. Due to his color and status as a slave, numerous white apprentices at the shipyard where he works as an apprentice under Mr. Gardner despise him. When they fight, they …show more content…
For example, one of the points in the thesis that I took from the narrative was the damage that the system of slavery has placed upon slaves. You could say that his own experiences would be enough to defend his thought but not only did Douglass do that he also included the experiences and traumas of the gender that has been left out of these discussions, women. Douglass includes imaginative descriptions of the abuse that women around him encountered to show the bruteness that women faced on a daily. Douglass didn’t stop there he also used depictions of events to show how slaves were seen as property and only that by their slave owners. It’s ridiculous to enforce and carry out the notion that someone who is born in America is another person's inherited or brought property. To defend his thesis, along with objective information told to the reader, Douglass appeals to the emotions of the reader to incite anger and rage from the mistreatment of the oppressed, and getting the audience to feel anything besides impassiveness is a great way to get your message
Resolving to fight back against Covey thrusts Douglass into manhood and is the first instance of justified violence seen in the novel: “It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood...and inspired me again with a determination to be free” (68). Although up to this point the violence described was portrayed as completely unjust and terrible, here the reader is to understand that, for the slave, this type of violence may not only be necessary, but completely justified when attempting to gain
Douglass describes how Covey is known as a "slave breaker" and is feared by slaves throughout the region. During his time working for Covey, Douglass is subjected to brutal beatings, psychological manipulation, and degrading treatment. Covey's goal is to break Douglass's spirit and make him a subservient and obedient slave. Despite the harsh treatment he endures, Douglass eventually fights back against Covey and manages to resist his efforts to break him.
Dallin Jones C. Ogimoto American Literature February 15, 2023 Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Appeals Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery on February 14, 1818. He later escaped slavery in 1838. Frederick Douglass is most commonly known for his narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. The purpose of this narrative was to uphold the principle of freedom as an inalienable human right and to prove how slavery was dehumanizing. Fredrick Douglass neatly uses ethos, logos, and pathos to promote his purpose, but pathos is by far the most effective due to the correlations between him and the reader.
His owner expresses no sympathy and instead sends him back once he is nursed to passable health. After returning, he has a violent encounter with his master. This time, however, he doesn’t back down and accepts mistreatment. He decides to fight back, and through the hard work of the fields can easily defeat all of his master’s attempts to dominate him. Reflecting on this, Douglass explains that he possessed a newfound peace.
In the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, the author details the horrors and dehumanization of slavery in the south. Douglass utilizes paradox and powerful diction to illustrate his transformation from slave to man in mind, body, and spirit. After overcoming his oppressor, Mr. Covey, Douglass declares, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” Douglass captures the reader’s attention with use of word play and allusion, he clearly indicates the turning point of the memoir and his transformation from slave to man. Douglass uses an allusion to the Bible, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away
Fredrick Douglass encounters many brutal and merciless people during his time as a slave. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by himself, Douglass creates psychological profiles of masters, mistresses, overseers and other characters in positions of authority. By describing these personalities, Douglass ensures the reader pictures an accurate representation of them and the interactions that occur. This causes Douglass’s words to have a greater effect on the reader when they can form emotions and opinions on characters. These descriptions contrast throughout the memoir, displaying the different personalities of each of the slaveholders.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave written by Himself provides a vivid and intimate glimpse into the world of slavery. Douglass illustrates in his narrative the various forms of retaliation slaves engaged in to assert their humanity. The various forms of slave rebellion depicted in Douglass’s narrative reside in the oppressive system of slavery.
Lastly, he demonstrates a strong sense of racial pride by running a secret school for slaves. Ultimately, these characteristics are what drive Douglass to make his daring escape from slavery. Douglass reveals his courageousness when he daringly fights Mr. Covey. He is sent to Mr. Covey, a slave breaker, who treats Douglass poorly. Douglass
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; an autobiography consisting of Frederick Douglass’ search for freedom from the slaveholders who kept many African Americans captive, allowed many to understand the pain and misery in the midst of slavery. Published in 1845, Douglass conveyed the lives of African Americans and how they have suffered a great deal of pain and discomfort through a provocative tone . Throughout his autobiography, Douglass used countless metaphors to portray his life. From Mr. Plummer to Mrs. Auld, the reader could better perceive the text by visualizing the metaphors that Douglass has used. Using Frederick’s writing, youthful audiences can gain knowledge about slavery and its effects.
‘’ No words, No tears, No prayers, from his glory victim, seemed to move his iron heart fro his bloody purpose.’’ (page 5). Douglass appeals to the mournful emotions of the audience by expressing how the overseers gave no mercy or cared about the effect of whippings to the slaves. Douglass use of parallelism displayed how slavery was
In Frederick Douglass’s book, he writes accounts of his time in slavery and beyond. Throughout the book, Douglass writes about not only the physical hardships slaves endured, but the mental and emotional hardships as well. In Chapter X, Douglass describes a battle he had with a temporary slave owner named Mr. Covey. After the fight concludes, Douglass writes, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.
In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass's battle with his master Covey is a turning point in his career as a slave in that he resolves to no longer be docile and subservient as a slave. In fighting back against Covey, Douglass frees his mind from the psychological effects of slavery. Douglass's battle with Covey marks the end of Douglass being obedient and not questioning the word of authority like he was brought up to do. Douglass vows that "the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me." (Douglass, 83) By refusing the role of an obedient slave, Douglass also refuses the slave mindset and liberates himself.
In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.
After spending much time with the Auld family, Douglass went to work for a new slave owner named Covey. Covey was known to break enslaved peoples’ spirits so they can be a “good” slave. The new owner did just that. All of Douglass’s hope to escape to freedom was gone. “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed…”(Pg.18 E.4)
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass’s autobiography in which Douglass goes into detail about growing up as a slave and then escaping for a better life. During the early-to-mid 1800s, the period that this book was written, African-American slaves were no more than workers for their masters. Frederick Douglass recounts not only his personal life experiences but also the experiences of his fellow slaves during the period. This book was aimed at abolitionists, so he makes a point to portray the slaves as actual living people, not the inhuman beings that they are treated as. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slaves are inhumanly represented by their owners and Frederick Douglass shines a positive light