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How Does Frederick Douglass Use Ethos

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Many history books and movies explain, in different ways, how slavery was like. These books and movies may be historically wrong because the authors did not actually experienced slavery first-hand. But the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was written by Douglass himself who had been a slave. Though being a former slave, Frederick uses a diverse amount of persuasive techniques. Logos, ethos, and pathos are just a few approaches he uses. Logos is an argument based on coherence and philosophy. Throughout the novel, Douglass tells many stories of how a slave was treated. “The frequency of this has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head” (Douglass 24). All the slaves, within themselves, knew when they were asked a question he or she would be more fortunate to not say a word in response. It was evident the difference between freedmen and slaves. They were treated in a discrepant way. “I speak this advisedly,- that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by …show more content…

This is the persuasion influenced by ethical inclination and authority. Being a slave always meant to obey the master at all times. “He was cruel enough to to inflict the severest punishment, artful enough to descend to the lowest trickery, and obdurate enough to be insensible to the voice of reproving conscience” (27). Douglass’s master at the time, Mr. Gore, had prerogative and authority to do as he pleases; he used this set fear in his slaves. Furthermore, the ethical side is likewise distinguished. The slave owners wanted to keep the slaves ignorant and away from their families. “My mother and I were separated when I was an infant- before I knew her as a mother. It is a common custom … to part children from their mothers at a very early age” (2). It was improper and crooked to keep a child away from their mother and keep them

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