Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

In his, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass experiences the songs of his brothers and expresses his understanding of this passage. Through his use of structured diction, Douglass reveals the eternal enslavement of his mind caused by the deterioration of his slave self, exposing his apprehension of the songs.

In the passage, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American slave, Douglass depicts his experiences as a slave. He uses syntax and figurative language to appeal to his audience.

Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a fantastic speech to a group of abolitionists in the city of Rochester, New York. He briefly summarized and praised the history of the United States, but then extremely eloquently spoke about the current situation that African slaves inhabited. Before I started reading the speech for myself, I saw the length and was a bit put off. However, when I started reading the speech, I found Douglass’ style to be incredibly impressive, and I enjoyed reading the whole speech. I took notice quite early in the speech, of almost a foreshadowing of where his speech was going to take a turn to. Douglass was clever to make a distinction between those of slaves and non-slaves by using “yours.” Although he recognizes the greatness of the country and its origins, he soon points out that the African slaves cannot celebrate such histories. For instance, he states that the fourth of July is, “a day that reveals to him (the

Whenever injustice exists in society, it becomes the responsibility of others to step forward in defense of the oppressed. If this action does not occur, then the injustice will remain and innocent people will suffer. In order to preserve equality, sometimes people must take a risk in order to reveal the truth and uphold justice. Individuals throughout history, such as the founding fathers, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., have faced this peril in the pursuit of freedom. In 1845, Frederick Douglass published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in order to do just that- to establish the truth behind slavery and advocate for freedom. In his narrative, Douglass uses diction, structure, imagery, and other

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 chapter seven of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass is finally aware of his approximate age, and is burdened with the thought of being a “slave for life.” At the age of 12, it is not very encouraging to be given the description of a “slave for life.” Douglass uses his newfound reading and writing skills to cleverly comprehend the book The Columbian Orator, and the speeches from the Catholic emancipation it contains, in his favor. The book Douglass discovers does a good job of supporting his invalidation of slavery as well as providing him with knowledge and reasonable arguments.

After the American Revolution, slavery became a more significant component in the American economy. As a result of many slave owners being materialistic, slaves were overworked and treated callously. One such slave was Frederick Douglass. Through most of his life, Douglass was trapped in a typical slave environment. However, Douglass taught himself to read and eventually escaped the desolate life of a slave. After his freedom, Douglass wrote his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, which chronicled his life story. In his book, Douglass details his slave upbringing and how it affected him. His autobiography was incredibly comprehensive which is one reason

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.

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”- Frederick Douglass

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Douglass himself, was about his

Think about waking up every morning knowing that your mother, which is also your only known family member, lives 12 miles away from you and that the only time you get to see her in when it is in the middle of the night, well Frederick talks about how he grew up in slavery and how he was raised through all the difficult and hard times and how he overcame. In the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) by Frederick Douglass. He talks about how he and the other slaves thought of things like what plantations were better and what the songs meant to slaves as that aged. He talk about how slaves grow up to watch white children read and talk about how old they are and how as a slave if you try to read you get hit and they never actually know their exact age. Frederick used pathos, logos and ethos but I felt both emotion and logos when reading this book because it let me learn more about how my race was treated in the slave times.

Slavery is a horrible condition. In the Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass tells his story of growing up as a slave and then becoming a freeman. Douglass speaks of the horrors of slavery and the beauty of freedom. Douglass uses figures of speech, diction, and repetition to convey his feelings of excitement, insecurity and loneliness on escaping from slavery and arriving in New York in 1838.

How would you react if you were being enslaved due to the color of your skin? I expect that you would want to do everything you could to change the way the world was thinking. In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass written by himself, Douglass is encountered with numbers of different challenges. He has to adjust to the way he is forced to live, educate himself, and reach his goal of making an escape. Overall, he wanted to expose the evils that followed slavery. Douglass appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos in an attempt to end slavery.

In his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass references his personal struggles in order to evoke despair. Douglass evokes despair from his reader by employing artful usage of syntax and strong verbs. Douglass comes across in his writing as full of despair. On page 45, Douglass writes in his autobiography, regarding his newfound knowledge through learning, “It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy.” Douglass’s use of syntax here evokes the emotion of despair in the reader through the clear and concise sentence. Had Douglass drawn this sentence out or changed the word order even a fraction, he would have completely changed the tone that was elicited in this excerpt. The use of his personal story helps to evoke empathy from the reader, making them more vulnerable to feel his despair through the text, and therefore feel despaired themselves.