Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Frederick Douglass

Even the men who are in the Northern States who are black are not free. Douglass points out that “blacks are easily likely to face the death penalty for one crime, where white people would face punishment if they did the crime twice,” This, according to Douglass is slavery. This can be seen even today in our news and society. Many blacks are targeted and attacked solely based on their appearance, and experience many micro-aggressions. Douglass also says, “Do not need to argue about what is wrong with robbing these Negros from their liberty keep them ignorant from their relations to other men?” This speech truly emphasizes the inhumane, cruelty, and injustice associated with the treatment of blacks in America. While the whites look at the 4th of July as a celebratory to their lives and freedom, not everyone is truly free. It is important for Douglass to show that while many associate this holiday with prosperity and positive attributes, the blacks face slavery, prejudices, and unequal treatments day-to-day. “What is inhumane cannot be divine”, says Douglass. Later on in the speech, he talks

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.

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.

One of the strongest pieces of evidence the author uses in support of their argument is, “At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed… For is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder… The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled… and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.” What Douglass tries to accomplish is to tell the citizens that words will not make a difference if they want change. Only violence can make an impact because the slaves’ voices are not really being heard. This evidence is strong because Douglass attempts to use the rhetorical appeal of pathos in

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.

“A person held in servitude as the chattel of another” (Slave, n.d.). This is the definition of a “slave”. The most well-known cases of slavery occurred during the settlement of America, for well over 300 years, slavery was allowed and for the most part considered the “norm” within our country. There were many eradicators who made an attempt to end slavery, as we know at some point; they were successful at doing so. One very influential person was, Fredrick Douglas, he along with many others, were extraordinary influences in the anti-slavery movement. Douglas was known for being a social reformer, author, journalist, women’s and human rights activist, a publisher and an abolitionist all in one. He helped to shape and strengthen our nation and try to make it one with equality as possible. Dedicating his life to fighting for justice for all Americans, specifically African-Americans and minority groups. Frederick Douglass rose from slavery, this fact itself inspired him to do so much more than just write about what it was to be a slave. He turn into one of the leading African-American voices. Douglass would eventually become the best-known abolitionist in the country and the most famous black American of his time. As an alternative to only arguing against slavery, Douglass took a different approach, he asked some hard questions about what freedom really is. The speech by Fredrick Douglas, entitled “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” represents just that. It express his discontent for the way the slaves were been treated while using sarcasm to prove his point that the slaves are entitles to their freedom, liberty and all American democracy.

Through his crafty use of rhetoric, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of America in his self-referential speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” The speech articulated his passionate pursuit for liberty and equal rights. Douglass’s speech passionately argued that in the eyes of the slave and even the “free” black

experience to persuade the readers that slavery is cold-blooded and cruel. Douglass uses many rhetorical

In countless moments in his speech Douglass calls out America directly and questions her authority. A prime example is him using the celebration of the Fourth of July to call out the promised political freedoms and natural justices. He wants to call out the country on its core fundamental believes and logically prove the great moral injustice that is happening just because of the existence of slavery. One of his most purposeful techniques is to create an extremely controversial idea that will gain attention. The more people question or consider his argument the more people hear about it and in turn continue the conversation of his ideas. Another way that Douglass logical challenges his audience of lawmakers is through giving examples of all the jobs slaves can do just as well as the common man. He wants to question the fundamental theory of what makes a man a man. He demonstrates the worthiness of slaves and concludes that humanity has created the idea of being superior, not nature. Douglass efficiently portrays his argument about the role of the American slave through logical

In his apostrophe, Douglas uses metaphors, choppy sentences, and comparisons to emphasize the true horrors of slavery and the pain he and many others had gone through. Douglas begins his apostrophe by comparing himself to boats on the bay. By comparing the two he is creating a personification that compares confinement with freedom. He is confined to his master however the boats are allowed to freely move to and are not confined. He uses words like “merrily” and “gentle gale” to describe the freedom that the boats have while using darker words such “sadly” and “bloody whip” to describe himself and his life. The diction is an effective way in to portray the reality of

“Education and slavery were incompatible with each other” is a quote from the excerpt Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass. (7.40) Douglass was born a slave in 1818. In those times, a slave being able to read and write was a crime. For Frederick Douglass being able to do both, tells you a lot about his character before you even read the passage. It shows you that he’s a very ambitious and strong-minded man. Douglass found ways to accomplish his goal to learn how to read and write. Douglass effetely persuaded his audience by his explanation through writings, he appeals to the three parts of the rhetorical triangle: ethos, logos, and pathos.

As one reads Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, they are convinced of the wrongness of slavery. Frederick Douglass uses heart-wrenching emotional imagery, examples of his own moral conscience, and logical arguments to create a case against slavery. The descriptions of the treatment of his fellow slaves causes the reader to feel sympathy, persuading them that slavery is wrong. Douglass then tells of instances when he put himself at risk to do something morally correct, demonstrating that he is a person of good morals and is credible in his argument against slavery. Finally, he uses clear logic, comparing slavery to other evils. These all allow him to present a solid argument against slavery in his work.

Douglas thought that the Bibles were propaganda in favor of slavery. The slaves understood that the Old Testament condemned them by the simple fact of being Africans. In the New Testament we can see the following phrase repeated many times “The slaves are obedient to yours masters”,

During their speeches, they exposed the political and religious hypocrisy that the white people played regarding slavery. Douglas whether God would be happy if some people were making other slaves. He condemned the American churches except religious abolitionist movement that were against slavery. He was against their silence on the slavery and slave trade. He urged that the church silence on slavery was like an infidel, Bolingbroke, and Voltaire, who were eighteenth-century philosophers who never spoke out about the church giving a blind eye to slavery. He argued that the