Rhetorical Analysis Of Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass
The general argument made by Frederick Douglass in chapters one and two in his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is that slavery is damaging and horrific. More specifically, Douglass argues that slavery is dehumanizing, evil, and has damaging effects on both the slaves and owners. To effectively convey his message, Douglass used certain rhetorical strategies such as appeals to ethics, imagery, and biblical allusions.
One of the major rhetorical strategies Douglass uses is appeals to ethics. This strategy helps him in describing the horrific effects of slavery by establishing credibility and trust with the reader. The first time this can be visibly seen is in the opening paragraphs of the book while he
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One such instance where imagery is used is in the opening paragraphs, where Frederick is describing his family. While describing his mom, he said “She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsy Bailey, both colored and quite.” By describing his family in this way, but not himself, we can visualize what he may have looked like if we didn’t have resources such as the internet. Another instance in which imagery is utilized is while Douglass is describing his master’s wife. When discussing her attitude toward female slaves, Douglass said that “she [was] never better pleased than when she [saw] them under the lash.” This statement makes us not just read about the hate, but makes the reader visualize the hate by seeing her smiling face while the slaves are suffering simply because of her jealousness of the female slaves being used to create more slaves and for her husband’s pleasure. A third use of imagery is clear when Hester was being whipped. Douglass described it in detail when he said “he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood came dripping to the floor.” This is one of the most powerful uses of imagery within the first two chapters because it clearly and plainly shows the violent, horrid, brutal effects of
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235 Words | 1 PagesRhetorical Analysis for ‘The Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass’ Fredrick Douglass’s influential experiences recorded in ‘The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass’, reveals his woeful hardships as a slave, which he overcomes with his unfaltering desire to become an educated and ultimately free man. He apprises readers of the monstrous realities of slavery whilst providing a silver lining of hope to light the path to freedom. Throughout the entirety of the book, FD’s riveting diction accentuates his forthright opinions and detestation toward the vicious, pitiless, and blood-thirsty slaveholders with words such as “wicked”, “horrid” and “cowardly”. To slaveholders, education was a threat; to FD it was a sanctuary.
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1642 Words | 7 PagesBy being a slave, he witnesses first hand all of the dehumanizing events that have taken place, such as the unprovoked torment of innocent slaves. This information is important because it provides trust. Subsequently, it is easier for the audience to empathize with the slaves because of this new trust. Douglass uses ethos to provide credibility to his narrative, and it allows the readers to build a trusting relationship with
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973 Words | 4 PagesBecause of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.
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911 Words | 4 PagesIn his Narrative, Douglass recalls being woken up by his aunt who was “… [tied] up to a joist, and [whipped] upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood,” (22). Living a happy life does not include occasional beatings and the fear looming around. The romantic image is false since slaves did not have positive feelings when they were separated from their family, or when they were beaten until the slave owner saw blood. The songs that slaves sang revealed the false, romantic image of slavery. People thought they sang because they were content.
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