Use of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in Frederick Douglass' Life of a Slave Narrative

African Americans are more than just slaves. African Americans are people that have dreams to pursue anything they want just as white people do. Throughout the novel “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” as written by himself, Douglass writes about his life during slavery and how it changed him into the man he became after he gained his freedom. He provides his own thoughts throughout this novel, which all appeal mainly to pathos. Also, Douglass provides examples of rhetorical analysis, such as chiasmus, loose sentences, and analogy. He wrote this novel to inform fellow slaves and abolitionists to stay hopeful and never give up, just as he did. He maintains a constant tone of depression and hope as he tells about his life story and being a slave. In this narrative, Douglass presents the argument that slavery is inhumane and needs to be discontinued.

Douglass uses syntactical elements to prove his point about the senselessness of slavery. He exercises imperative sentences. He asserts, “Oh God, save me! God, deliver me! let me be free.” He asks God in a commanding fashion for his deliverance and freedom. He connects to his emotions when he describes his experiences as a slave. He also uses anaphora. He makes the statement, “Go on, go on.” He compares his life to the traveling ship. Douglass changes his writing structure. He transitions from a dethatched perspective to a more connected and personal account.

In the very beginning of the narrative Douglass appeals to a reader’s emotions through an appeal known as pathos He does this simply by stating he was born into slavery and his master may or may not be his father.

Overall, Douglass accomplishing in writing a powerful persuasive and powerful slave narrative by ascertaining profound pathos, ethos and logos to support his claim. He makes up his ideas in order to strongly denounce slavery and gives people more information to know. He generates sympathy and compassion from readers and audiences and also appeals their emotion, Douglass is a great author that should be remembered by people who lives in United

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.

Frederick Douglass throughout his novel used imagery to explain in detail the exact pains they suffered as slaves including the deadly violence. In the novel Douglass explains various accounts of beatings he witnessed such as the deadly beating of Mary, “The head, neck, and shoulders of Mary were literally cut to pieces.” (Douglass 38). This helps the reader understand what Douglass and other slaves endured mentally and physically. Not only did Douglass witness the beatings, sometimes he was beaten. The multiple times that Douglass uses imagery

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.

Throughout the book Douglass uses pathos to evoke a range of emotions for the audience. All the situations he had told in the book are true events; with that in mind it sets a new feeling for the audience to experience. Douglass explains his life in a manner that makes the reader feel every bit of emotion while reading. “Before he commenced whipping Aunt Hester, he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist,

Frederick Douglass was furious with the way she was treated. She was old and feeble; instead of putting her out of her misery they thought it would be appropriate to put her in hut in the mountains. “They took her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there in perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to die!”(29) The sentence creates an angry tone towards the slave owners. The commas build up all the anger Frederick Douglass has, then it is let out with the last statement. He is furious with how the slave owners treated his grandma. Did they think that she could support herself? This only supports his claim. The pathos is seen here through his syntax. His grandma is old and lonely. She has no one to help her. “She stands-she sits-she staggers-she falls-she groans-she dies.”(29) Douglass use of repetition shows a negative tone. His grandma is old and in pain. She has nothing to live for. Her life consists of her having to struggle through daily life to do things. In a perfect world she should had been killed, but she is left to suffer. His grandma’s experience shows the emotional effects of slavery. He is able to support his pathos by using tone. His angry tone expresses his hatred for slavery, because there are no happy endings for

One of the themes that the book dealt with is society and it’s handling of slavery under the guise of Christianity. Those who professed to being the most Christian i.e., the minister who lived next door, was actually the most cruel. Douglass stated adamantly that religion

Finally, pathos is a main appeal of Douglass’ writing. Perhaps the reason why pathos is covered in the whole writing is not difficult for the audience to understand. The fact is that Douglass tells a true story about himself, and his emotions stem from the reality of what he had experienced. Douglass’ pathos is expressed in the way he describes the mistress as a tender-hearted woman in the beginning of the writing. The mistress is also a person who taught him the alphabet. However, she stopped teaching him and hated to see him with a newspaper. Douglass suggests that his mistress turned to violence against him because of oppression that was forced upon her by society and her husband (101). Surely, if Douglass did not have the pathos, he could

The slaves including Douglass were treated cruelly. They starved and even had to steal and beg for food. This can be shown when Mr.Covey would “break” him making him more like a beast of burden than a human being. He says turning him like a "beast-like stupor", treated like an animal and even becoming one. However, one day Douglass he looks out onto the Chesapeake Bay and acknowledges the ships. This is important because the imagery of the white ships would lead him to be ambitious to escape and be free. He contrast the ships are free to go anywhere as he can not. It symbolizes the freedom from slavery to Douglass. He is angry for them being free, as he is becoming an animal. The Chesapeake Bay would inspire him to plan an escape. In the progress, now knowing to read and write plans to escape slavery by writing fake permissions to travel to Baltimore in canoes. This is also important because it shows Douglass’s life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man. Other example, when he gets in a fight with Covey which would be a turning point for his life as a slave. At this moment, Douglass becomes psychologically

Douglass contextualizes the idea of good versus evil to highlight the contrast of freedom and enslavement in order divulge the true realities of slavery to his audience in a way that is easily comprehensible. When describing the profound effects that learning to read had on his life, Douglass describes its liberating impact by stating, “It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, it breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm” (41). His personification of freedom, which came to him through his education, implies that the idea of it is so powerfully instilled in him, it acts like its own unstoppable being making it even more irresistible. Just as Douglass personifies freedom, he also personifies evil to illustrate its own puissant

He signals that the change within his status is not merely physical but also emotional. This transition of mindset is important to Frederick Douglass’ narrative because it shows how he began to reshape his identity. Being capable of greater thought, he was able to seek his own freedom and later advocate for the freedom of thousands of other slaves. Without this change in mentality Frederick Douglass would never become the public figure he was.

The authors in "Narrative of the life Frederick Douglass, an American slave," and "The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah" inform about major life event which is what we learn in our history classes. Frederick and Olaudah are great writers that sat down and wrote about their lives as slave.They gave a non-fiction story in first person. The authors purpose was to inform the audience about slavery, which marked history in our country. It was important for them to have a style that would capture the readers attention and I think they were very successful in doing