Argumentative Essay On Frederick Douglass

Throughout history, there have been many black-rights activists that use their power of speaking to fight injustice and promote equality. One of those activists, who fought for equality with the power of his words, was Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He had a vision of the roles of African Americans during and after the war to ensure they receive citizenship and freedom. Frederick Douglass faced many tribulations throughout his life and that only made his speeches for equality and justice that much more powerful because he was a victim of injustice. Douglass believed that if African Americans want to have citizenship and be seen as equals, they must prove that they deserve it. In order to prove that African Americans deserve citizenship, Douglass encouraged them to enlist and join the fight for equality. Although there were obstacles in seeing his vision implemented Douglass stood his ground and fought until his vision becomes reality.

America’s history will be scarred forever by the evils of slavery which once existed here. Slaves lived lives of pain and hardship. But some, like the slave and later abolitionist Frederick Douglass, rose up from the tribulations of slavery and led the way for progress and change in America. In his autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass tells his inspiring yet harrowing story of his life as a slave in Maryland and his escape to freedom in New York and later Massachusetts, where he eventually became an abolitionist. Douglass masterfully uses ethos, pathos, and logos to craft his powerful narrative that exposes to his audience, the American people, the horrors, absurdity, and hypocrisy of slavery.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass details the oppression Fredrick Douglass went through before his escape to freedom. In his narratives, Douglass offers the readers with fast hand information of the pain, brutality, and humiliation of the slaves. He points out the cruelty of this institution on both the perpetrator, and the victims. As a slave, Fredrick Douglass witnessed the brutalization of the blacks whose only crime was to be born of the wrong color. He narrates of the pain, suffering the slaves went through, and how he fought for his freedom through attaining education.

My first example of diction that Douglass uses is “…in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well…” (2) Here Douglass is describing how slaveholders have sex with the female slaves and abandon the children born from it. He uses words such as odiousness, lust, and wicked desires to show how the slaveholders use and abuse the slaves in their employment for their own gratification. By using the aforementioned words, Douglass try’s to convey to his target audience the audacity of these men who abandon

In Frederick Douglass 's first autobiography, "Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, he provides a graphic portrayal of his childhood and disturbing experiences as a slave as well as his eventual escape to freedom. Douglass went through physical abuse, starvation, and mental fatigue during his youth, yet through unimaginable circumstances he was able to overcome everything and become a writer, newspaper editor, and most of all one of the most influential abolitionist. In telling his story, Douglass paints a realistic picture of slavery. Douglass 's narrative spells out the slaveholders ' tactics in simple terms while highlighting the moral inefficiencies and the damaging effects of slavery on both the slave and the slaveholder

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave was written by Douglass himself, giving a detailed description of the slaveholders cruelty. Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, and he makes known that he does not know his specific birthdate, “... no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.” (47), but it was approximately around 1818. Once being enslaved, and then escaping in 1838 he became known as an eloquent speaker for abolitionists, being able to deliver passionate speeches about the role of a slaveholder and their relationship to their slaves, especially since he was one of them. Douglass even discovered the true meaning of the songs sung by enslaved people, “ I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs, I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear.” (27). The book is not an easy read for those who believe in equal rights, as Douglass put into painful words the description of brutal whippings, signs of no mercy, and people being taken advantage of because if they had shown mercy they believed they would have lost their dignity.

In The Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, written by himself the author asserts that the way to enslave someone is to keep them from learning at all. Douglass supports his claim by, first, when Frederick was small he was never able to tell his age or the date, and secondly, they were never allowed to be taught how to read that was something always hidden from him as a young child. The author’s purpose is to inform the reader that as a slave there were so many things they were not allowed to have that we may take for granted, in order to make it very clear that we should not take our education and opportunities for granted. Based on The Life Of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, Douglass is writing for the white people who believed that slavery was right, he wanted to make it very clear that the slaves and Douglass had nothing handed to them.

Douglass uses terrifying diction throughout the novel would use words such as “shrieks”, “warm red blood” and “horror-stricken” (Douglass 24). Douglass uses descriptions like this throughout the novel to describe the whippings and beatings of the slaves. Douglass uses this intense diction to help show just how cruel and terrifying it was for the slaves. By using these words Douglass paints a better picture for the reader and helps strengthen his argument and to encourage slaves, abolitionists and slaveholders to step up and end the cruelty to the slaves. Also by using the horrific and dark diction it helps Douglass develop ethos by showing that he was

As a young child, Frederick Douglass was introduced to the acts of violence towards the slaves including the all too common whippings. He says, “I have often been awakened at the down of day by the most heart-rendering shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.” One could only imagine the horrid pictures that slaves would have seen on a daily basis of other slaves nearly being beaten to death by their masters. For the black children growing up on the plantation, the master was seen to be a man of great power and not to be taken lightly. This was exactly

There is so much damage happening in Douglass’ story that it is challenging to grasp how such an inhuman thing can happen not so long ago from today. Douglass illustrates how dehumanization of black slaves by the whites played a significant role in the timeline of slavery and the brutal occurrences that seemed to expand with it. Whether it was before, during, or after slavery, the slaves were dehumanized in many ways. Without dehumanizing the black slaves' society we would be unable to preserve the experience of violence in order to keep slaves thrive intact situated. But on top of that slaves were punished in extreme manners physically and mentally which this would have caused them to come to a sort of break and become a brute. Not only keeping

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass is a masterpiece work depicting poor status of black people through the theme of human exploitation, ignorance and racism and for this purpose, Douglass has used modern techniques of irony and realism in his narration

Issues of freedom vs being enslaved did not stop with whippings. Douglass has memories when it was time to eat, "our food was coarse corn meal boiled. This was called mush. It was put into a large wooded tray or trough, and set down upon the ground. The children were then called, like so many pigs they would come and devour the mush; some with oyster-shells, others with pieces of shingle, some with naked hands, and none with spoons. He that ate the fastest got most; he that was strongest secured the best place; and few left the trough satisfied" (Douglass 957). This moment they have of them eating a meal could be that of rats fighting over garbage. This was no way to treat hardworking people that had worked all day long. Douglass experiences the discomforts of hunger and cold during his time as a slave.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an account of Frederick Douglass’ life written in a very detached and objective tone. You might find this tone normal for a historical account of the events of someone’s life if not for the fact that the narrative was written by Frederick Douglass himself. In light of the fact that Douglass wrote his autobiography as a treatise in support of the abolishment of slavery, the removed tone was an effective tone. It gave force to his argument that slavery should be done away with.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is written by the ex-slave Frederick Douglass and recounts his life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man. This edition is edited with an introduction by David W. Blight, an American History teacher.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass perfectly depicts the dreadful experience of living in slavery. From being unsure of the day he was born, to his first beating from a master, to the brutal and exhausting work, and to the joyous day he was freed. Besides describing his experience as a slave, he describes the toll slavery had on the masters and families of slaves. Frederick Douglass also includes his view of education in relation to freedom. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a good excerpt from The Classic Slave Narratives that can be considered a good historical resource due to the historical content it provides about slavery.