Stewart began with a casual use of irony in the form of sarcasm to mock the perspective of white slave owners who relegate work to their black slaves who “were lazy and idle” even though the lifestyle which their black slaves sustain allows the laziness and idleness of the slave owners themselves. Her use of figurative language, which appealed to pathos, emphasized the long toil for freedom which likens the slaves’ tired spirit to their tired bodies which the white abolitionists have never experienced: “I reply to it, the whites have so long and proudly proclaimed the theme of equal rights and privileges, that our souls have caught the flame also, ragged as we are.” Although the white abolitionists preach equality and privilege for all, the
When slavery was abolished in 1865, it was a critical turning point in the journey towards equality for African Americans. Prior to the eradication of slavery writers like Frederick Douglass sought to free millions of slaves in America. While slavery was a well-known and growing problem in the south, it wasn’t as widely recognized in the north. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Douglass recounts his experiences and tribulations as a slave. In the narrative Douglass effectively uses rhetorical imagery, antithesis, and irony in order to expose the harsh reality of slavery during the 19th century.
The person in this poem expressed his sadness coming north by using folk art with black speech and compared the south with the north. These poems expressed racial pride and folk
Phillis Wheatley, born in 1753, wrote the poem, “On Being Brought From Africa to America” in 1773, at the young age of 20 years old. Wheatley was an African American, and a woman, and she is known as a true American poet and a pioneer. Wheatley was well-educated, which was unusual for both women and African Americans at this time, and her education gave her many tools to write the powerful works she wrote. Wheatley’s works tend to be subtly argumentative, and that is what I’d like to demonstrate and analyze in my explication of “On Being Brought From Africa to America.” In the first two lines of this poem, Wheatley chooses to communicate her ideas using words riddled with implications.
To whom it may concern,/ Dear Sir or Madam, Subsequently reading documented lives of slaves whom have suffered, I have concluded that this was the dark and unethical time of America. In this literary composition I will discuss reasons why slavery is atrocious and America should feel ashamed. Not only taking people from their country and their families, they were sold and appraised for work. There is documented archives to show the cruelty that was being done. Frederick Douglass born in Talbot County, Maryland was born into slavery and wrote about his sufferings.
There are two arguments being made in the poem, one by the first speaker and one by the second speaker. The argument being made by the first speaker is that American dream is their reality, everyone is treated with the utmost respect. This person is a patriot, a person who believes that what America (or any country) was and always will be a free country. This person is simple minded, this person doesn't see the whole picture, this person doesn't see that thousands are left poor and starving because they were equal to others and that they don't have the same freedom as others. The second speaker strongly disagrees with the first speaker, this person knows as a fact that him/her and their people feel as if America was America, this person keeps
he uses bold words and biting criticism to call attention to the gross injustices and hypocrisy of slavery in the United States. In the opening remarks of his speech, Douglas provides heart-wrenching descriptions to pull his audience into the lives of their fellow
His “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”, (Document G) makes emotional reading (lurid descriptions like "bitterest dregs of slavery" or "broken in body, mind, and soul" elicited reactions of disgust and dejection, which is the what abolitionists were hoping for) and showed that ultimately a slave, long thought to be a possession and less than human, was very much a person with reason and intellect. It provides unsurmountable proof that like any man, a slave deserved a life of dignity and liberty. His work shed light on the constant hard-working and abusive lifestyle that slaves
To begin, he uses emotional appeal to create powerful imagery to persuade the reader that celebrating freedom is wrong when slavery still exists. He announces, “fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them” (para. 4). By creating a picture in the audience’s mind of other people’s cries of freedom deriding slaves, they begin to feel ashamed for being so cheerful while African Americans have no liberty. The readers have recognized that they are being hypocrites by supporting slavery while boasting about their freedom as a country, which leads them to begin wanting to
“Letter to My Master, Thomas Auld” explores Frederick Douglass’ view of slavery and Thomas Auld, his former slave master, in a smart and emotionally charged letter originally written in 1848 and published in the abolitionist newspaper North Star. Throughout the letter, Douglass uses his own experience as a slave to drive his views, often using sarcasm and a dark recognition of his trials to drive his own view of slavery; that slavery should be abolished and that it is inhumane and cruel. Douglass’ decision to publish this paper in the North Star allowed him to bring to light his experiences to push other readers of the newspaper towards an abolitionist stand point by bringing his first-hand accounts of slavery forward and explaining, at times
James Monroe Whitfield’s poem, “America,” spoke to me the most compared to the other poems in the selection. In the poem he asks many questions regarding the American Revolution, and the true reasons for America to become free. The line that stuck out to me the most was on lines 17 and 18, “Was it for this they shed their blood, On hill and plain, on field and flood?” Whitfield is trying to make the point in these lines that the American Revolution was fought for freedom for all men and women in America. Many men shed their blood for liberty and they were proud of the outcome.
In 1776, on July 4th, the 13 English colonies officially declared their freedom from England. However, as the years progressed, slavery became incorporated into everyday American life. In 1852, Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was called upon to deliver a speech to celebrate America’s independence; however, he censured Americans for saying they were a “country of the free”. In the speech, Hypocrisy of American Slavery, Frederick Douglass declares that Americans should not be celebrating their freedom when there are slaves living in the country. He uses emotional appeal, ethical appeal, and rhetorical questions to convince his audience that Americans are wrong celebrating freedom on the 4th of July when slavery exists in their country.
He uses these experiences to show just how unjust the treatment towards slaves was. As a child, he was not allowed to learn like many of the white children were, they wanted to keep the slaves ignorant
These songs were far from joyful, they would sing “…the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone…” and these songs would “… [breathe] the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish.” (29). Douglass argues against the positive image of slavery that portrayed slaves to be
In the poem, “The Slave’s Dream”, by Henry W. Longfellow, Longfellow portrays the dreams of a slave. This slave dreams about his Native Land, his family, and his life before slavery. Additionally, as the poem unfolds and ends, it is clear that these memories of his home and family resurface after he collapses and as he drifts from the land of dreams to death. Furthermore, the slave is dreaming about not only being with his family in his Native Land, but also being completely free from the bonds of slavery one way or another.
