Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Devices

Historically, many authors have enhanced their arguments by appealing to their audience’s emotions. Frederick Douglass does expertly this throughout his narrative by making the reader feel horrified and sad for him when he was a slave. The feeling of horror is repeatedly shown through his detail in explaining how the slaveholders and overseers treated the slaves. The first graphic account comes four pages into the narrative when Douglass describes his master Captain Anthony and the overseer Mr. Plummer, he details that Plummer would “cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly… master would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself”(22). Although he doesn’t go into a lot of detail, the fact that a master would whip his overseer for being too cruel is enough to horrify the reader.

Slavery is a humongous topic involving both slaves and former slaves. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Story is one such story. Douglass suffered punishments, and watching others get punished, he uses those experiences to make his argument against slavery.Douglass’ tone in the narrative is sarcastic and dark. Frederick Douglass successfully uses vast quantities of rhetorical devices, illuminating the horror and viciousness of slavery, including the need to eliminate it.

To continue his persuasion, Douglass uses selection of detail and different tones to make his view known. When describing some aspects of slavery, Douglass’ use of detail opens society’s eyes to injustice. In one case, when describing the whipping of his Aunt Hester, he includes details that encompass sight- “the warm, red blood… came dripping to the floor,” sound- “amid heart-rending shrieks,” and emotion- “I was so horror-stricken… I hid myself in a closet” (Douglass, 24). By including facts covering many senses, he provides the reader a chance to piece together the scene, giving them perspective. If society has all the details, it becomes easier for them to pass an accurate judgment of slavery. His detail, or lack thereof,

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

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

When describing horrific events he was forced to witness, the tone of Douglass’ voice becomes very detached, as if he is so used to witnessing beatings that it has become a normal event. Douglass also writes, “He was immediately chained and handcuffed; and thus, without a moments warning, he was snatched away, from his friends and family, by a hand more unrelenting than death” (34). This quote is used by Douglass to infuse a feeling of disbelief in the hearts of the audience, for the man in the quote earned this punishment for merely speaking the truth one time. The audience feels sympathy towards this slave for being taken away for something that should not be punished.

Fredrick Douglass uses complex syntax and vivid imagery to convey the struggles of the American slave to the American public and law makers. Douglass uses his public platform to raise awareness about issues American slaves face every day to create strong emotions and reactions in the public. The strong language and rhetorical elements create a power and controversial piece over the right of the American slave.

Nevertheless, learning to read and write opened his eyes and showed him a different reality he thought that he had lived in. Afterwards Douglass continued learning through white kids. Whether he was a slave and who he was working for, nobody could take reading and writing away from him, which finally made him free. When I was reading this essay, I kind of felt a bit bad.

Firstly, the literary devices Frederick Douglass uses to convey the point of slavery as an evil is imagery. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass we see three major uses of imagery. The autobiography contains similes, metaphors, and personification of the things around him. A simile that we see in the autobiography is, “I looked like a man who had escaped a den of wild beasts and had barely escaped them” (Douglass, 41). At this point during his autobiography he is discussing to his master that he fears Mr. Covey will kill him, and he is begging for his master to take him away from Mr. Covey. Mr. Douglass uses a simile to emphasize the severity of his slavery. To describe himself as a man who has only barely escaped death shows the severity of infliction in slavery. To continue to express his discontentment with slavery he personifies it by saying, “On the one hand, there stood slavery, a stern reality, glaring frightfully upon us, - its

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

Specifically, Douglass’ experiences of learning how to read, ship caulking and being a slave for hire are all skills that

When he was a child, he linked his increasing comprehension of slavery with his own life. When he became a teenager and while he was between the hands of several slavemasters, he started to plan his pathway and made freedom as a main object. Through his autobiography, Douglass narrated with details how literacy widen his mind giving him the opportunity to know the harmful reality and nature of slavery. He also prepared his mind to be free and started a long journey with the purpose to flee from slavery and married after that, changing his name and his status as well. Through this noticeable autobiography, Douglass planned his coming of age, yet he put his work aside from the others of the same genre because the different hurdles he faced during

For example, chapter two discusses the conditions the slaves faced. He simply told the facts the way they were, “The power of simple statement is one of the chief characteristics of Mr. Douglass’ style of speaking’ (Gregory, 127). The salves had to face rationed food, inadequate clothing, good and bad overseers, and day-to-day life. By explaining the facts in a general tone, using specifics to help readers understand, he was able to provide a general picture of what life was like.

In chapter 3 of Douglass book, Douglass used the rhetorical device imagery to reveal and explain the cruel actions and events that took place on plantation during slavery. For example, Douglass asserted, “When he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood”. With that, Douglass used this to show how the “American Promise” and “American Individual” was unjust. Although, masters were Christian they still did devilish things upon slaves and whites not allowing slaves of their freedom. In conclusion, this connect back to American Individual and American Promise because using imagery it gave

Frederick Douglass' intent in writing is to share his story of life as a slave and expose the reality of slavery. He wishes to inform the reader of what he experienced as an average slave. He also wishes to persuade the reader to advocate for abolition and freedom. Douglass is very effective in accomplishing this. His stories about the brutality he experienced combined with the nonchalant tone in which