How Has Literature Changed Over Time Essay

The author’s diction illustrates Douglass view of the world around him and his feelings about a community created by fear and injustices. “The wretchedness of slavery” provoked Douglass to “trust no man”, which gave him the sense of feeling “perfectly helpless.” Being imprisoned in slavery for so long caused Douglass to witness the evils of man and experienced the cruelty of being alone. Even more when the “ferocious beats” showed their “greediness to swallow” it left Douglass “toil-worn and whip-scarred.” As time passed by Douglass’ desire for freedom has grown. However, when he does escape he puts himself in his own state of slavery that is run by fear. Douglass’ desires has not even freed him, but it also allowed him to live in life without

Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave offers a depiction of slavery like very few before him, from his firsthand accounts. Douglass wanted to show his opposition to slavery and knew he would meet many criticisms. Due to this criticism, he had to mask much of his work with irony. Some of his works are obvious and others are a bit harder to see. The more difficult ones were put in place by Douglass in order to provide a deep and profound statement, without arousing too much opposition. If he had he would have faced much more threats than he did. He not only

Frederick Douglass begins the Narrative off with giving the reader a brief summary of himself, beginning with his childhood. Being that it is only brief does not come from it lacking importance, but rather it being all that he knows. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery. Children born in to slavery suffer a great amount of hurt. However, being that they are only children, they are naïve to the reality that they are forced to live in. A child is to receive love and affection, to learn, and to grow and Slavery robbed them of that completely, taking away their right to just be a child. As a slave, children are taken away from their mothers to be raised by an elderly woman who is no longer able to work on the field or do any other kind of physical labor-like work (Douglass 2). As a young boy, Frederick Douglass didn’t quite understand the white man’s reasoning for this selfishness, “For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection towards its mother and to blunt

     The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.

Frederick Douglass focuses mostly on appealing emotionally to pathos through the use of imagery. He writes, “there were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such.” He again appeals to pathos when describing the eating portions. Douglass explains the eating troughs used for children and says “few left the trough satisfied.” Douglass illustrates the cruel conditions slaves faced, from the bare sleeping quarters to the harsh whippings received. This effects the reader by helping them visualize the conditions the slaves were placed in. He chose to do this to inform those who weren’t aware of what was happening inside the gated properties. Douglass next establishes credibility through the use of ethos. He begins his narrative by giving background information and stating that he has “no accurate knowledge” of his age. Douglass implies that he can be trusted because of his own personal experience.

Overall, Douglass accomplishing in writing a powerful persuasive and powerful slave narrative by ascertaining profound pathos, ethos and logos to support his claim. He makes up his ideas in order to strongly denounce slavery and gives people more information to know. He generates sympathy and compassion from readers and audiences and also appeals their emotion, Douglass is a great author that should be remembered by people who lives in United

Purpose: Douglass wrote this book when slavery was still a normal and acceptable lifestyle in the US. Through his own sufferings as a slave, Douglass wants to show the American people the true injustices of slavery from the perspective of a former slave. That way,

The purpose behind Fredrick Douglass’s Narrative was to appeal to the other abolitionists who he wanted to convince that slave owners were wrong for their treatment of other human beings. His goal was to appeal to the middle-class people of that time and persuade them to get on board with the abolitionist movement. Douglass had a great writing style that was descriptive as well as convincing. He stayed away from the horrific details of the time, which helped him grasp the attention of the women who in turn would convince their husbands to help by donating money and eventually ending slavery. He used his words effectively in convincing the readers that the slave owners were inhuman and showed how they had no feelings for other human

of imagery. Douglass told many stories about people and the things he saw during his time as a slave.

Throughout the book Douglass uses pathos to evoke a range of emotions for the audience. All the situations he had told in the book are true events; with that in mind it sets a new feeling for the audience to experience. Douglass explains his life in a manner that makes the reader feel every bit of emotion while reading. “Before he commenced whipping Aunt Hester, he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist,

In some ways, Douglass’ message of the cruelty in slavery is most effectively portrayed through his word choice and language, rather than the actual presentation of evidence. At one point, after witnessing several acts of extreme violence towards slave, and even some murders, Douglass sums up the events with a common phrase among slave holders, “it was worth a half cent to kill a nigger, and a half cent to bury one.” While this may not be an actual fact, it is very logical, and shows why the courts would never convict a white man for murdering a slave. By choosing to use this statement, it shows how well Douglass understands his surrounding, and how corrupt and violent they are. This statement devalues an entire race of people, and that alone speaks to the reader’s heart. The logic of the statement

The slaves including Douglass were treated cruelly. They starved and even had to steal and beg for food. This can be shown when Mr.Covey would “break” him making him more like a beast of burden than a human being. He says turning him like a "beast-like stupor", treated like an animal and even becoming one. However, one day Douglass he looks out onto the Chesapeake Bay and acknowledges the ships. This is important because the imagery of the white ships would lead him to be ambitious to escape and be free. He contrast the ships are free to go anywhere as he can not. It symbolizes the freedom from slavery to Douglass. He is angry for them being free, as he is becoming an animal. The Chesapeake Bay would inspire him to plan an escape. In the progress, now knowing to read and write plans to escape slavery by writing fake permissions to travel to Baltimore in canoes. This is also important because it shows Douglass’s life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man. Other example, when he gets in a fight with Covey which would be a turning point for his life as a slave. At this moment, Douglass becomes psychologically

Unlike other writers, Douglass was a nervous writer also. Douglass’s put all his fears and nervous thoughts to the side and focus on what was important to him. Also, worry about the problems that were going on, and what he saw doing the time period when he was seeking this massive situation. Those affecting others and himself that were going on throughout that time period. Douglass always wanted to change

In lines 33-56, Douglass’ tone shifts from the hopeful and optimistic sense of potential, to showing the overwhelming negativity slavery can have on someone. Douglass displays this by

The motif behind a literature changes over time. It is affected by numerous factors like politics, religion to name a few. The term feminism has influenced literature in a profound way, and still there are a lot of feminist writers sharing their beliefs. Feminism can be defined as an ideology that believes in equal rights and opportunities for women. So, there were number of writers during the wave of feminism that supported the feminist ideology. Writers like Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath fall on the second wave which happened sometime around the 50s and 60s. Their poetries were very dark themed and talked about their troubled life and how they were wounded emotionally and mentally. Both writers ended their life at their own will. Their literature