Douglass was tired of his master taking control over him, so he fought back against slavery. Douglass tries to prove the point of anti-slavery and racial arguments, relating to the Scientific
This utmost act of audaciousness completed by Douglass exhibits his bravery like nothing else. He, a slave, fought his own master and had no regret at all. Most slaves wouldn’t have the gut to say something back to their master, let alone fight them to a bloody pulp, but Douglass did. That is what set him apart from other slaves, he was extremely intelligent and audacious. Just with those two traits of his they caused many events that lead him to his
The antithesis in Douglass’s claim illustrates how different the two groups are; the white celebrate an invalid freedom while the slaves mourn the absence of their freedom. Parallelism highlights the number of different ways the slaves feel oppressed in contrast to the white Americans. White men and women live in a place where they can celebrate freedom, but black men and women yearn for a place of their own, away from the bondage of slavery. The author’s allusion to the “rivers of Babylon” and the people’s cries from “[remembering] Zion,” or the free land, emphasizes the slaves’ need for freedom (Douglass). As aforementioned, the slaves wept over their need for their own personal Zion where they could be free.
Douglass and other slaves were only seen as property to their masters. Not only was being a slave master accepted as the norm , so was being of the Caucasian race. Whatever the Caucasian American said became the rules of society. Many of the slaves also saw being a slave as the norm for anyone of the African American race. Douglass was exploited throughout his experience as a slave.
Slavery was a dark point in American history for every African-American born at that time. Slaves had no education and was never taught because it would possibly make the slave stronger. Frederick Douglass was a slave who was able to educate himself. He escaped slavery and ran up North. Few years later, he wrote his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, explaining his experiences with slavery.
Douglass does not feel like he can call the country as his own. When asking the audience what the Fourth of July means to them, Douglass responds with, “a day that reveals to him more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim” (4). Douglass feels that on the Fourth of July, African-Americans are reminded that the world is unfair and unjust. Like Stanton, Douglass fights for what is right, and pushes to have a country where all people are treated equally and where everybody respects each other. Douglass states, “There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery, “The arm of the Lord is not shortened”, and the doom of slavery is certain”(5).
Calling him to the stage, they surely expected him to speak about slavery; a topic he has the most credibility on. The audience already being familiar with Douglass resulted in extrinsic ethos; he used this upper hand to sway their opinions toward his side of things. Douglass spoke about why slaves didn’t associate the Fourth of July with the happiness that free people did. He had
On the eve of the Civil War, the abolitionist movement and the opposition to slavery were very strong and powerful. While many people knew that slavery was a disgusting and degrading institution, there was not much first-hand information available about the inhumane effects that slavery had on both black and white people. In his narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass demonstrates the dehumanizing effects slavery had, not only on African slaves, but also on the white population. In order to kindle the abolitionist movement and the opposition to slavery, Douglass includes his own personal accounts of life as a slave in America and utilizing elevates diction and vivid imagery
Every year we celebrate with fireworks and a celebration to celebrate the freedom that was granted to us yet the slaves weren't considered independent. Slaves were treated with no respect at all as Douglass uses parallelism to show how slaves were treated equivalently to trash. "What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men
Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery. Douglass uses deep characterization to show the change in behavior of slaveholders who have uncontrolled power. A good example of this is Sophia Auld. Before slavery took effect, she was a kind and caring woman who comprehended moral righteousness. She had never owned a slave before Douglass.