Douglass And The Hypocrisy

Well known slave author and orator, Frederick Douglass, in his narrative, “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” alters the way people view slavery. Douglass’s purpose is to convince the audience that slavery should be abolished. He creates a haunting tone in order to persuade the readers that slavery is wrong. He uses many real life accounts of horrifying instances of beatings, murders and torture to prove that slavery is unjust.

In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.

Since before the time of Jesus Christ, religious hypocrisy has run rampant throughout those who held power. Countless lives have been affected by others twisting religious interpretation in order to fit their own needs. Slaveholders used religion and scripture to their advantage when disciplining slaves, sometimes even if they did no wrong. Religious hypocrisy is especially relevant in the life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass’s life story depicts how religious hypocrisy committed by both slaves and slaveholders diminished the rights of slaves, while at the same time allowing injustice to endure.

America’s history is overrun with oppression and injustice based on race, ethnicity, and other traits that innocent victims have no control over. As a result, the reputation of the United States is forever tainted by it’s dark past, and still practices these surviving habits of hatred. Civil liberty issues faced since the establishment of the country have yet to be resolved because of the ever-present mistreatment, corruption in positions of authority, and the dehumanization of minorities.

In his 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, Frederick Douglass passionately argued that to the slave and all other Americans, the Fourth of July is nothing more than a mockery of the grossest kind; that the United States stood by hypocrisy to the values they ultimately swore by. In his speech, Douglass made four clear points: (1) “This holiday is to rejoice for the sake of freedom and liberty”; (2) “My people have no freedom, have no liberty”; (3) “You rejoice, my people mourn” (4); “This holiday is a mockery to us”. In making these points Douglass exposed the hypocrisy and ignorance of the nation. Douglass produced his argument with the use of several rhetorical strategies. Douglass used rhetorical questions that created a distinct separation between the slaves and freemen of the United States; the use of repetition of important phrases left a clear and concise impression on the listener, while using the logic and credibility of the Bible to communicate claims.

Frederick Douglass was a wise and brave man that grew up in the American slave system. He knows first hand the hardships of being owned by someone and having no way to escape that kind of life. After escaping from slavery he decided to write a book on the hardships of his life. In the book he describes the life of the slave and the many aspects that are not usually learned. These aspects describe the life of a slave in a point of view that is not usually looked at; the point of view of a slave.

During the mid-19th century, the issue of slavery divided the nation between two firmly rooted camps, the southern slave owners and the northern abolitionists. As authors and activists attempted to shed light on the issue of slavery, they appealed to the millions of citizens who were in between camps, whether due to a lack of knowledge or lack of importance in their daily lives. The story of Frederick Douglass is one such literary work that helped inform American citizens on the horrors of slavery, offering a first-hand account as Douglass rose from a slave to an educated free man. Within his narrative, Douglass describes his life as a slave and transition into American society with newfound freedom, highlighting the dehumanizing results of slavery. Furthermore, Douglass appeals to the three Aristotelian appeals throughout his novel, synthesizing the argument that slavery should be abolished. Specifically, Douglass makes use of vivid imagery that appeals to readers’ pathos, inciting horror in his audience at the sight of atrocities committed by slave owners. Moreover, Douglass references a number of prominent literary works when forming analogies between slavery and history, appealing to readers’ ethos by illustrating his education and increasing the credibility of his argument. Finally, Douglass utilizes a parallel sentence structure to appeal to readers’ logos by presenting his arguments in a cohesive and logical manner when writing of the slave’s lack of autonomy over their own lives .

Frederick Douglass is a remarkable figure when it comes to describe and expose the outcome of the oppression in the black race since memorable times seen and experienced through the centuries expressed in slavery, racism and mistreat. In “The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro”, Douglass states the values of not only a race but a human being in his speech, by allowing himself to represent and describe the meaning behind it by using juxtaposition, irony and imagery to fight

Slavery has been a heavily encourages and practiced in the American society. From poor white farmers to supporter of abolishing slavery has seen it with their eyes. They all know that what they were doing to the African American slave was wrong. Slavery transformed the way society sees their life and liberty. In order to truly understand the impacts that slavery had on American society was to be a slave yourself. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and fighter for freedom wrote his book based on his experience of being a slave. He was an African American who taught himself how to read write and gain more knowledge to learn that he was a worthy living human. With his autobiography, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American slave written by himself, Douglass protected his experience by using different tones and styles to capture the reader's mind and show an example of what a slave had to face.

In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” it shows all 3 rhetorical appeals (Ethos, Pathos, Logos) which are found in all forms of writing, speeches, movies, television shows, and life within itself. Frederick Douglass used all three of these rhetoric in the narrative to tell about both his life as an American slave and his cause over ten decades ago. He uses these devices to identify himself to the readers, to bring emotion out of the readers, and to persuade the readers.

One can call it by any name, white Christianity, Religion, or even Christianity of Christ, but Jesus called it hypocrisy, and in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” Douglas compares true Christianity and Religious hypocrisy. A hypocrite is a person who tells others to live or do a certain thing, and then that same person lives or does the complete opposite of what they preach. This type of behavior has existed from the time Adam took a bite of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. In the book, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass he expresses his opinion between true Christianity and Christianity of white slave owners, suggesting that that people should know a Christian not

Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. Throughout the autobiography, Narrative of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass, a former slave and anti-slavery advocate, shares his views and horrid experiences regarding the slave system. In the final analysis, Douglass realizes the importance of education, which soon opens up gateways to freedom. In the event granted, Douglass uses the writing techniques ethos, pathos, and logos; all components of rhetoric to illustrate an effective argument against slavery.

Frederick Douglass is an intelligent young man born into slavery around 1818, in Tuckahoe, Maryland, on a plantation. At a young age, he is introduced to the barbaric treatment of slaves after witnessing a fellow family member being tied up and whipped. Unfortunately, Douglass is trapped in a culture where abusing certain individuals is acceptable, and sometimes encouraged. He is a devoted Christian, becomes disgusted by the hypocrisy of Christian slaveholders and how they use religion to justify their actions. Douglass’s scorn for the hypocrisy of Christian slaveholders is shown through his diction, tone, and juxtaposition.

While knowledge can be perceived as a curse, in Fredrick Douglass’s case, it was a blessing. In discordance with Michael Scott, an EOF student, he states that knowledge was more of a curse for the said former slave. After reading the text, learning to Read and Write, Fredrick Douglass recounts his times as a slave to Master Hughs. In secret his mistress led him on the path of learning to read and write, only to turn her back on him out in fear of the opinionated society. Reading and learning only made him feel defeated once he figured out that his freedom came at the cost of death. Yet beneficially knowledge is not just about knowing facts and being afraid of what’s out there. Fredrick gained the skills necessary to take what his master inflicted

The thing that resonated with me the most during this reading is that seemingly everything McDowell mentioned was focused on the dominance of the male slaves. Just as Kat mentioned in an earlier post, I too have not read the essays that McDowell referenced; so, I also found some of McDowell's references rather difficult to understand. For the most part, though, I think I caught on. I also found myself getting quite annoyed while reading McDowell's essay. It seemed that all of McDowell's arguments lead back to Douglass' need to be a dominant, male figure which resulted in every passage about women being beaten coming off as erotic. "The way in which Douglass constructs the scene evokes the familiar male child's initiation into the mysteries