Literary Themes In Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

Picture this going through life without the ability to read or write. Without these abilities, it is impossible for a person to be a functioning member of society. In addition, imagine that someone is purposely limiting your knowledge to keep a leash on your independence. Not only is an American slave raised without skills in literacy, he cannot be taught to read unless someone breaks the law. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader is given a detailed explanation of why slave masters keep their slaves ignorant and the effects such a strategy has on the slaves’ lives. In his autobiography, Douglass describes how the knowledge he obtains has substantial positive and negative effects on his psyche. He is given renewed passion and hope for freedom while struggling with the burden of enlightenment of his situation. Ultimately, however, education shapes his fate, and he achieves freedom and prominence as an advocate for abolition.

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass explains, in great detail, how slave master would use a variety of methods to dehumanize slaves located on their plantation. These methods involved both severe physical and psychological trauma. Nevertheless, Douglass remains diligent and finds a way to resist the harsh reality of being a slave. Because of his immovable desire to acquire knowledge to his fighting encounter with Mr. Covey, these experiences help shape Douglass to be the archetype of what it means to go from slavery to freedom. This essay will highlight the physical and psychological tactics used on slaves. In addition, the aspect of how Douglass resists the

Douglass uses vivid imagery to depict the gruesome and ungodly nature of slavery. For example, in chapter six, Douglass describes the death of his grandmother “…She stands-she sits-she staggers-she falls-she groans-she dies-and there are none of her children or grandchildren present, to wipe from her wrinkled brow the cold sweat of death…” (59) This quote helps the reader imagine the grandmothers death and how helpless she felt. The fact that the slaveholders made it impossible for her children to be there when she died, contributes to the inhumane image Douglass has already been painting throughout the

     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.

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.

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.

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.

Douglass threw light on the slave system not only through argument but through his autobiography. Douglass talks about the things he saw as a slave. The text says,” The louder she screamed the harder she whipped.”[Douglass, pg,4] That shows how his book showed some of the torture slaves went through. He then talks about how

Can you imagine being totally controlled by someone else and being beaten every day? In The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass argues how slavery changes people and how it was cruel and horrific for the slave. Douglass was born into slavery where he learned how to read and write. Douglass tells his story of being a slave and how it changed him. This was used to help slaves step up and realize that they didn’t have to be treated like this and to try and get slaveholders to understand what they were doing was wrong. Douglass does this by developing pathos, using horrific diction and by using sentence variety in his novel.

Frederick Douglass wrote his autobiography to provide a look into the world of a slave. His audience varied, from abolitionists, to whites that were on the fence about the issue, but his purpose remained: to allow non-slaves to learn about the horrors of slavery. In this autobiography, Douglass dispelled readers’ “illusions about slavery” by merely telling his true story, an everyman tale for slaves. Douglass worked on plantations in the Maryland area, and those plantations were considered to be easier than those of Georgia or Alabama, as unruly or ornery slaves were “sold to a Georgia [slave] trader” as punishment (54). Douglass may very well have been one of the better-treated slaves of his era, and in revealing the horrors of his

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass provides the reader with a powerful autobiography, which enables the reader to venture into the life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass shows the reader how the knowledge he obtained was both helpful and harmful by using examples from his life. The key to freedom, for Douglass, was knowledge; however, this knowledge also opened his eyes to the dehumanization slavery caused.

In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass relates the horrors of slavery. Douglass endured being ridiculed, beaten and treated like an animal, but he found strength in knowledge and the pursuit of being free. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass shines a light on the struggle of a slave, opens the door to see the effects slavery had on all parties involved and inspired others to want to make a change.

They say that one can never fully understand a situation until he/she is put into that scenario themselves. Too often, history is written by those who have only read and researched the issues, remaining distant and objective to get all the facts straight. While there is honor in this approach, one cannot experience the horror of war, the thrill of victory, or the reality of a situation if written from a third-person perspective. No, history is best told by those who have participated in it: the soldiers who crawled through the muddy trenches, the revelers who celebrated the great national victory, or the people who did not witness history, but made it. Particularly on the issue of slavery, copious amounts of writing exist on both the pro-slavery and anti-slavery side from scholars, politicians, and citizens supporting their views, but very little exists from the perspective of slaves and former slaves. This in part is what makes The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, so incredible and valuable to the American audience. Speaking with authority as one who has experienced slavery firsthand, the self-educated Douglass exquisitely manipulates a bevy of literary devices, such as setting, writing style, and allegory, to illustrate the horrors of slavery and form a

In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Douglass recounts his experience from a small child born into slavery on a plantation to his eventual escape from the horrendous world of slavery. During his time as an enslaved person, he witnessed countless brutality upon the enslaved people from the hands of their masters. A lot of people may have seen movies or have heard about the suffering of enslaved people endured but none is as vivid as the firsthand accounts that Douglass tells. He goes in depth into details regarding his life as a young boy to moving from different slaveholders, the people that touched his life, the people who left marks, the people who influenced his thinking, and the people and

Through his narrative, Fredrick Douglass uses his first-hand life experience to show how slavery dehumanizes people. Moreover, Douglass provides a critique of the institution of slavery and the entire system of racism that held that black people were not capable of creating meaningful art and literature. Thus, his use of literary devices and allusions to key historical works humanizes the victims of this violence. That dual purpose is what makes Douglass’s life narrative so impactful.