Rhetorical Analysis of Frederick Douglass's "How I Learned to Read and Write"

Slaves were not taught how to read and write because education is power, and with power, slaves could escape. Frederick Douglass said that “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery with the power of education, and he wrote an autobiography, which shows the idea of freedom through the eyes of Frederick Douglass, and the connection between freedom and education. Douglass shows this through rhetorical devices and the elements of rhetoric. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave reveals that with education, freedom is attainable.

During the mid-19th century, the issue of slavery divided the nation between two firmly rooted camps, the southern slave owners and the northern abolitionists. As authors and activists attempted to shed light on the issue of slavery, they appealed to the millions of citizens who were in between camps, whether due to a lack of knowledge or lack of importance in their daily lives. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is one such literary work that helped inform American citizens on the horrors of slavery, offering a first-hand account as Douglass rose from a slave to an educated free man. Within his narrative, Douglass describes his life as a slave and transition into American society with newfound freedom, highlighting the dehumanizing results of slavery. Furthermore, Douglass appeals to the three Aristotelian appeals throughout his novel, synthesizing the argument that slavery should be abolished. Specifically, Douglass makes use of vivid imagery that appeals to readers’ pathos, inciting horror in his audience at the sight of atrocities committed by slave owners. Moreover, Douglass references a number of prominent literary works when forming analogies between slavery and history, appealing to readers’ ethos by illustrating his education and increasing the credibility of his argument. Finally, Douglass utilizes a parallel sentence structure to appeal to readers’ logos by presenting his

America’s history will be scarred forever by the evils of slavery which once existed here. Slaves lived lives of pain and hardship. But some, like the slave and later abolitionist Frederick Douglass, rose up from the tribulations of slavery and led the way for progress and change in America. In his autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass tells his inspiring yet harrowing story of his life as a slave in Maryland and his escape to freedom in New York and later Massachusetts, where he eventually became an abolitionist. Douglass masterfully uses ethos, pathos, and logos to craft his powerful narrative that exposes to his audience, the American people, the horrors, absurdity, and hypocrisy of slavery.

Douglass’s escape from slavery and eventual freedom are inseparable from his movingly narrated attainment of literacy. Douglass saw slavery as a

My first example of diction that Douglass uses is “…in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well…” (2) Here Douglass is describing how slaveholders have sex with the female slaves and abandon the children born from it. He uses words such as odiousness, lust, and wicked desires to show how the slaveholders use and abuse the slaves in their employment for their own gratification. By using the aforementioned words, Douglass try’s to convey to his target audience the audacity of these men who abandon

In lines 18-32, Douglass describes what was an abnormality in those times- a white woman (his master’s wife) taking pity on him, and teaching him to read and write. Douglass’s juxtaposition of his master’s wife’s attitude toward him- which was one of a “pious, warm and tender-hearted” nature, to the way the rest of society perceived him as a “mere chattel” helped highlight just how abnormal her behavior was. This contrast further developed through the fact that to treat a slave as a human being back in those days was “not only wrong, but dangerously so,” yet despite that commonplace assertion found all throughout life back then, his master’s wife still treated Douglass no different than she would treat a friend. This section of the text elaborated upon her kind-hearted nature, which led her to pity and help those worse off than her, no matter how society perceived it. Douglass emphasized this point by using mostly long, well constructed sentences that were filled with figurative language. This syntax helped elaborate upon the tone of newfound hope in this section, by demonstrating his flowing thoughts and feelings, due to his newfound freedoms. This syntax helped emphasize the fact that Douglass had acquired the very knowledge slave owners sought to keep from him, therefore acquiring the power that had been kept from him his whole life.

Frederick Douglass had specific audiences that he wanted to either relate to or to get across a point to. African American people that had endured slavery were an intended audience because Frederick Douglass states things such as “Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years. I finally succeeded in learning how to read and write” and “I was compelled to resort to various stratagems”. Those sentences by Frederick Douglass show that it was not an easy time for him and the levels or trials that he went through to be someone who was not illiterate. Frederick Douglass never once was one to give up on the need to learn to read and write, so that shows that Frederick Douglass thought that it was important for the African American people to be as well educated as the caucasian Americans were. The caucasian Americans were Frederick’s intended audience because of Frederick’s use of contrast throughout the extract. Frederick tells how his mistress had changed on him from being a helpful, loving, and nice woman to an evil spirited, bitter brute

The most obvious representation is seen when he describes coming to understand the word abolitionist, “the light broke in upon me by degrees”. The light acts as a metaphor for his comprehension of what it means to be an abolitionist and additionally delivers the concept of gradually learning the word. The usage of metaphors deepens the reader's awareness of the content and decipherment of the text. Altogether, metaphors help to enrich Douglass’s writing whilst presenting his purpose of intelligence being fundamental for living a liberated life.

Frederick Douglass was a wise and brave man that grew up in the American slave system. He knows first hand the hardships of being owned by someone and having no way to escape that kind of life. After escaping from slavery he decided to write a book on the hardships of his life. In the book he describes the life of the slave and the many aspects that are not usually learned. These aspects describe the life of a slave in a point of view that is not usually looked at; the point of view of a slave.

He backs this up with many examples, similar to his documentation of his experience with Sophia Auld. Sophia, according to Douglass, was “...a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself, and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery. I was utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew how to behave towards her”(Douglass 28). Here he describes a woman who might as well be a saint in the eyes of Douglass. All his life all he’s known was the cruelty of slavery, and in an instant, all that pain and suffering vanishes when he goes to serve Sophia Auld. That is until she eats the fruit of the slavery and its seeds blossom in her heart and mind. All the kindness and love in her turned to hatred and disgust. In the very next paragraph, Douglass mentions that “But, alas! this kind heart had but a

In a time where African American have been deprived of rights, Frederick Douglass seeks to highlight the hardships faced by a slave to white Americans. In order to better get his point across Douglass utilizes a multitude of rhetorical devices, from chiasmus and parallelism to imagery and paradox. In some cases, he highlights the complexity if a subject and in others, he makes the point clearer to the reader by juxtaposing two ideas to emphasize the differences and underlying message through what ties them together. With the use of these devices backing his point he effectively appeals to his audience's pathos and logos which allows him to persuade his audience to open their eyes to their wrongdoings.

Frederick Douglass was a man who would lose his future to create a better future for someone he didn’t even know. He did not know whether the black populatuion would ever be free or if free whether or not the next generation would appreciate or not. These were not thoughts in his mind for all he wanted was to accomplish his goal of free land. It was his goal to gain his freedom and then help someone else atain theirs. For he knew no matter how alone your master might make you feel everyone was in it together. His main audience were the people who were all for slavery. The two positions that douglass views are how slavery is bad for 1. The slave owners who were consumed by the power and 2. How slavery’s “oh so considerate care” was terrible for slaves.

Think about waking up every morning knowing that your mother, which is also your only known family member, lives 12 miles away from you and that the only time you get to see her in when it is in the middle of the night, well Frederick talks about how he grew up in slavery and how he was raised through all the difficult and hard times and how he overcame. In the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) by Frederick Douglass. He talks about how he and the other slaves thought of things like what plantations were better and what the songs meant to slaves as that aged. He talk about how slaves grow up to watch white children read and talk about how old they are and how as a slave if you try to read you get hit and they never actually know their exact age. Frederick used pathos, logos and ethos but I felt both emotion and logos when reading this book because it let me learn more about how my race was treated in the slave times.

“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.

The theme of Frederick Douglass work was how ignorance played an important tool to slave owners. In the southern states of america some believe that slavery was all their was in life that many blacks was to be held capative by many whites to worker in the fields and on plantations. The slave owners went as for keeping slaves ignorant from the basic facts parents, including things like their birth days just think about what this would be in today’s time. This really showed how ignorance played a great role in slavery which keep them without books, pen and paper giving them the sense of self- sufficiency and capability one key element of this is how the slavery would be told if the slaves could not read or write.