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'What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?'

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“What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” Rhetorical Analysis In “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” Fredrick Douglass, a former slave bough his freedom in 1847 as well as a leading figure in the antislavery movement, planned to criticize a free white man’s joy while there is slavery going on. Douglass’s purpose is to direct his opinion to the hypocrisy of the nation that celebrates Independence Day even though at the same time they had 4 million slaves imprisoned. The writer creates a harsh tone in order to emphasize the importance of antislavery. While at the same time, he adopts a scathing tone in order to evoke a sympathetic feel from the free white men in the audience. To begin, Douglass uses ethos to state his opinion about slavery, which is accurate because he was once a slave and knows what it feels like to be treated unfairly. He uses a bundle of ethos, “Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs” (2) shows how he uses ethos in a sarcastic manner. He also establishes diction …show more content…

His actions leads the audience to change their ways, “[…] by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me” (3) conveys the audience to end slavery because even though their fathers have passed slavery down doesn’t mean they have to keep it in their family. Also, Douglass was a spiritual man, who believed in god and believed he was “[…] called upon to bring humble offerings to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?” (1). This interrogative sentence evokes an aware feeling because they consider the fact he is speaking to better the people and nation, not just to talk or upset anyone. With this in mind, Douglass cared more for the people than himself, although he did side with the slaves

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