Rhetorical Analysis Of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass aims to point out the injustices of slavery in his autobiography consisting of personal experiences. Douglass illustrates the struggles that come with being a slave through recollection of experiences and circumstances that he lived through while creating vivid images producing emotion from the audience. Strong word choice and purposeful syntax further push Douglass's argument as well. Douglass’s attempts to create emotions in the minds of the reader through his use of vivid imagery in the descriptions of the slaves’ poor treatment illuminates his most valuable strategy. Not only does Douglass pathetically appeal to the reader in these descriptions but they are also first-hand accounts which make the gruesome depictions stick with the reader. His grim imagery perfectly exemplifies the way he describes the killing of a fellow slave, Demby in the following quotation, “In …show more content…
His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he stood.” (Douglass pg. 35) Douglass’s vivid descriptions extend from grisly scenes to his excitement in simple things. When simply isn’t treated as bad as usual or learns to read, he delights in these events, evoking a sadness on the reader because any human should have these basic rights. His carefully placed imagery maximizes the emotion and compassion the reader feels. Douglass also utilizes strong words and juxtaposed ideas to not only further his ultimate purpose but also emphasize his other strategies as well. Diction such as “mangled” and phrases such as “lashed me till he had worn out his switches.” (pg. 68) are written in such a way that emotions form in the reader to feel the horrors of the act of slavery. Throughout his autobiography, Douglass contrasts the images of slaveholders and overseers with monsters and slaves with
Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Devices
824 Words | 4 PagesDouglass Rhetorical Genius The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, a autobiography describes the life of a young slave in the 1800’s. Douglass accurately illustrates the inhuman practices of slavery through rhetorical devices, such as: imagery, irony, and anecdotes. Douglass employs the use of imagery throughout the book to depict the horrors of slave life and the injustice it delivers. The evils of slavery are seen not only in the accounts of the beatings recorded, but also by the cruel working environments described. “About three o’clock of that day, I broke down; my strength failed me; I was seized with a violent aching of the head, attended with extreme dizziness; I trembled in every limb.
Frederick Douglasss Hope For Freedom Rhetorical Analysis
1127 Words | 5 PagesFrederick Douglass’s Hope for Freedom Hope and fear, two contradictory emotions that influence us all, convicted Frederick Douglass to choose life over death, light over darkness, and freedom over sin. Douglass, in Chapter ten, pages thirty-seven through thirty-nine, of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, utilizes various rhetorical techniques and tone shifts to convey his desperation to find hope in this time of misery and suffering. Mr. Covey, who Douglass has been sent to by his master to be broken, has succeeded in nearly tearing all of Douglass’s dreams of freedom away from him. To expound on his desires to escape, Douglass presents boats as something that induces joy to most but compels slaves to feel terror. Given the multiple uses of repetition, antithesis, indirect tone shifts, and various other rhetorical techniques, we can see Douglass relaying to his audience the hardships of slavery through ethos, the disheartening times that slavery brings, and his breakthrough of determination to obtain freedom.
Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis
864 Words | 4 PagesThe autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written in 1845 in Massachusetts, narrates the evils of slavery through the point of view of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass is a slave who focuses his attention into escaping the horrors of slavery. He articulates his mournful story to anyone and everyone, in hopes of disclosing the crimes that come with slavery. In doing so, Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies to make effective arguments against slavery. Frederick Douglass makes a point to demonstrate the deterioration slavery yields from moral, benevolent people into ruthless, cold-hearted people.
Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Structure
487 Words | 2 PagesAfrican American Abolitionist, Frederick Douglass composes a autobiography known as Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, which is based on his experiences as a slave and feelings towards slavery. The main purpose to his autobiography is to illustrate the miserable experiences that slaves went through. He also describes his autobiography in a frank tone to explain to the audience about his tormenting experience as a slave. Douglass embodies his syntactical structure by inaugurating his syntax with various brief declarative sentences then transitions to polysyndeton, and ends with juxtaposition in order to illustrate his emotions toward slavery. Douglass introduces his autobiography by using various brief declarative sentences to illustrate
Frederick Douglass Metaphors Essay
561 Words | 3 PagesTo show his perception on the very cruel slaveholders, Douglass uses a multitude of adjectives to create an image in his reader’s mind, while also using metaphors to better comprehend the situation. For example, Douglass stated, “No words, no tears, no prayers, for his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose.” By using this metaphor, Frederick Douglass made the reader question how one could be so cruel to another human being. By visualizing one whipping another without any guilt, it makes the audience understand the inhumanity of slavery. In total, this metaphor creates a agonizing image in the reader’s
Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay
648 Words | 3 Pages‘’ 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
Rhetorical Devices In Frederick Douglass
631 Words | 3 PagesFrederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Frederick Douglass himself, is a brutally honest portrayal of slavery’s dehumanizing capabilities. By clearly connecting with his audience’s emotions, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices, including anecdotes and irony, to argue the depravity of slavery. Douglass clearly uses anecdotes to support his argument against the immorality of slavery. He illustrates different aspects of slavery’s destructive nature by using accounts of not only his own life but others’ alsoas well.
Frederick Douglass Use And Abuse Of Power Essay
498 Words | 2 PagesThe Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.
My Bondage And My Freedom Frederick Douglass Language Analysis
1344 Words | 6 PagesWithin “My Bondage and My Freedom,” Douglass uses diction throughout the autobiography to display his tone of understanding, and how slavery affects both the slave and the slave holder which causes the mood of frustration for the reader. When communicating a tone of understanding in “My Bondage and My Freedom”, Douglass uses diction to support it. The author uses language to truly present his tone towards the text. Throughout the story he manages to stay quite neutral with his tone. He appears to be understanding of the slaveholder’s point of view.
Frederick Douglass An American Slave Rhetorical Analysis Essay
732 Words | 3 PagesBy appealing to the emotions of the reader, Frederick Douglass can build his argument of how awful slavery was and how the slave owners used Christianity to justify what they did. In the book, Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the author uses his language to bring meaning to what he is writing. He creates an emotional connection to the reader using pathos, and builds his argument using the credibility of others, using ethos. In his book he uses his words to prove his argument to the reader of how the slave owners would use Christianity to justify slavery and violence, and how slavery affected everyone who was
Frederick Douglass Rebunk The Myth Of Slavery
814 Words | 4 PagesIn the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.
Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis
935 Words | 4 PagesAn American Slave,” Douglass discusses the horrors of being enslaved and a fugitive slave. Through Douglass’s use of figurative language, diction and repetition he emphasizes the cruelty he experiences thus allowing readers to under-stand his feelings of happiness, fear and isolation upon escaping slavery. Figurative language allocates emotions such as excitement, dread and seclusion. As a slave you have no rights, identity or home. Escaping slavery is the only hope of establishing a sense of self and humanity.
Frederick Douglass Negative Effects On Slaves
753 Words | 4 PagesFrederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.
Meaning Of The July Fourth For The Negro By Frederick Douglass
1110 Words | 5 PagesDouglass points to the vast unwillingness from the group of whites that refuses to fully perceive and accept African-Americans as deserving and equal citizens of the nation. Based on his personal experiences as a slave, Douglass is abundantly aware that the battle to abolish slavery is not an easy task. For the first twenty years of his life, he witnessed firsthand the abject cruelty of that institution in our country. Tactfully, Douglass seizes this opportunity to publicly highlight the unmerited and coarse differences in the treatment between the whites as opposed to the blacks living in the United States during this time period. He makes a “powerful testaments to the hypocrisy, bigotry and inhumanity of slavery” (Bunch 1).
What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Analysis
793 Words | 4 PagesDouglass stated, “What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow-men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?” He successfully expresses his pain and anger in this quote by providing images of his and his people’s suffering. He tapped into the emotions of his audience, such as mothers, workers, and those who have felt physically pain by exposing them to the amplified struggles he and others had to face. Nonetheless, he continually reminded the audience, both explicitly and subliminally, that his group of people are too human, and that the only difference they share is the color of their skin. He is pleading his cases and hoping that it gets across to his audience in hope they will do the right
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