Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

Another literary technique that Douglass uses in his narrative is ethos. Ethos appeals to a writer’s character or credibility. Christianity is Douglass’s focus throughout his narration. He uses it to show the ethical irregularities essential to the practice of slavery. It’s particularly moving in chapter ten in the character of Edward Covey. Mr. Covey looks at himself as a very religious and spiritual Christian and attempts to swindle himself and God, however his evil actions expose him to be nothing more than a two-faced sinner. Douglass stated that Mr. Covey’s “…life was devoted to planning and perpetrating the grossest deceptions. Every thing he possessed in the shape of learning or religion, he made conform to his disposition to deceive.” This linked the readers by portraying an extremely clear sample of the ethical paradox of being a Christian and a slave owner.

Frederick Douglass uses pathos to draw empathy from the readers throughout the book. He does this by giving his own personal experiences with extensive detail. Beginning the book with information about his mother, father, and his birth. He quotes, “ My mother and I were seperated when I was but an infant-before I knew her as my mother.

Douglass uses pathos to describe life as a slave. Page 12 states “ The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them”.” He uses strong words to build an emotional connection to reader describing how the songs of slavery affect him. He uses Logos when he explains the amount of physical pain slaves experience. Page 21 states “ Breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick, so that the poor girl expired in a few hours afterward. “ This is a logical explanation that the overseer Mr. Gore was a cruel and merciless man. Douglass uses Ethos almost throughout the entire book because he establishes credibility when he describes his life as a slave. Page 1 explains “ I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. “ Slaves were never given their real birth date, so Frederick Douglass never knew his accurate

Douglass had a way with words. He would capture my mind when I was reading the book. His narrative was very unique especially because he was a former slave and slaves were not supposed to know anything. When reading the book, I started to understand what the slaves were going through. Douglass talks about one of his slave owner Anthony he "was generally called Captain Anthony... he was not considered a rich

Douglass was a very well informed individual for his time, especially being a former slave that taught himself how to read and write. He was very aware of the fundamental principles of the United States and how to interpret each

Many of his audience would expect Douglass to be a brave, courageous man; however, they have to understand that Douglass was a person like any other, and that the pain and suffering he had gone through to get his education. He also used to describe his mistress a “tender-hearted woman,” as a sympathy to show that there are people out there that are caring enough to educate him(1). However, the dark turn of event happened when his mistress became more crucial and punished her slaves, just like her husband. Douglass also explained that he does not feel any sympathy towards her anyways because he was a slave and he knew she would eventually mistreat him. After his mistress’ cruel transformation, he grew weary because when he is caught reading a newspaper, his mistress would be aggressive and snatch the newspaper away from Douglass so he could not read anymore (1). The most difficult time was when his master found out he was learning to read, he would punish him (2-3). Douglass wrote, “learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing,” knowing at the time that getting an education was far more difficult than he anticipated (3). Douglass would think learning to read was not worth the pain he was getting. He thought that getting an education would help him escape slavery, but after his beating, he realized that receiving one would mean he has to endure the hardship in

As the protagonist, he has a bit more depth and sometimes cannot put his expressions to words. Douglass is angry with the slaveholders' perception of Christianity and the corruption of the entire institution. He was hopeful as a slave while sharing knowledge to others, plotting escape, and starting his new life as a free man. He also appeals to

Douglass’ use of pathos throughout his story helps the reader understand his feelings and connect with him. An example of this is “He gave me a savage kick to the side, and told me to he up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt. He gave me another kick”. Douglass’ uses this example in order to describe to his audience the abuse he endured during this part of his life. Another example of this is “Mr. Covey took up the hickory slat with which Hughes had been striking off the half-bushel measure, and with it gave me a heavy blow upon the head,

What really spoke out to me was in lines 123-130, where he spoke of how wrong it is to “make men brutes, rob them of their liberty, flay their flesh with the lash.” All of these phrases paint you a picture of how terrible they were treated. Douglass’s use of pathos hits its highest point within those lines. If you were ignorant in what was happening with the world, and you heard this speech, you would feel ashamed and guilty. His use of pathos grabs your heart, making you feel for all African American slaves during this

    In order to convince, one must fist charm the inner feelings of the audience. In Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he appeals to the interest of the reader through his first hand accounts of slavery, his use of irony in these descriptions, and his balance between evasiveness and frankness.

In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there are many extremely important points made through out. Frederick Douglass writes about many heart-wrenching experiences that he, and other slaves went through during his years of slavery. The five key points that stood out to me most were the loss of Frederick’s innocence, the power and importance of education, leaving the plantation to Baltimore, his year with Covey, and freeing his mind from slavery. In the beginning of his narrative Douglass goes on to explain the hardships that many slaves go through.

Going through the certain struggles that black people had to endure makes us value freedom even more. Douglass learns how to read and write in a world that discriminated skin colors. Through Douglass's journey, he shows how he started learning through his mistress until she realized that by instructing him, she was giving him power. Of course his master had tried to stop Mr. Douglass from reading and writing but it was too late. It was very fascinating the consequences that he had of his education.

William Andrews believes that the purpose of “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” was to inform readers about the cruelty of slavery and to prove that black people are completely deserving of them the same human rights as white people. Douglass reaches his goal by explains how he and other slaves lived with monsters. He describes the barbaric slave owners and the way they treated their slaves. He describes Mr. Severe, one of his slave owners, “... he was a cruel man. I have seen him whip a woman, causing the blood to run half an hour at the time; and this, too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading for their mother's release.

His simple writing allows his audiences to receive a straightforward message through easy to comprehend text that shows the absolute horrors of slavery from firsthand experience. His horrible, yet very formative experiences allow the reader to connect with others. Connections are with other people are powerful. It creates meaning and helps us achieve the goals and dreams each person has. Through these connections, Douglass was able to convince others that slavery was terrible for the slaves. It is obvious that his personal experiences were key in proving his

Douglass’s voice entered every listener and moved them. “I say with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of the glorious celebration. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us” (Faigley page 378). This was his opening. Just by that sentence you can hear the pain, the anger, and the sadness in his voice. He know first hand that he is not treated like he is equal. He was robbed of his freedom and his dignity. People are drawn to him because he speaks the hard truth. He explains the unimaginable to delicate ears.