Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglass creates a tale in which his grandmother breathes her last moments. He uses melancholy tones to draw the reader towards the sad emotions. Douglass shows that there is neither mercy nor compassion towards slaves even when they are suffering through their last hours on earth. He calls out the morality of not only the plantation owners, but the readers themselves. Frederick Douglass uses parallel structure to achieve his purpose by making the audience realize they must have compassion towards all people, regardless of their race and that they must abolish slavery. Frederick Douglass uses phrases and tones that sadden the reader. He weaves the nightmare so well that the audience doesn’t realize that he was never actually there to witness the death of his grandmother. He uses phrases like “moans of the dove” and “screams of the hideous owl” to represent the hopelessness and fear such a lonely death can bring. Douglass tries to put the readers in his grandmother’s place to question how they would feel if they were in her position. He uses shared values of family and that, because his grandmother’s “hearth is desolate,” she has no family or place of belonging. The audience begins to sympathize the woman they don’t even know because they can relate to the importance of family. Frederick Douglass brings out the significance of family by using sad words to make the audience understand the feeling of being alone. Throughout the passage, there is not an ounce of compassion or mercy towards the grandmother, which gives the readers an insight of how horrible slavery can be. The older woman suffers her last days alone, cold, and in pain. Douglass shows his readers that, even when death breaths upon the necks of the slaves, they still see no compassion from their masters towards them. There is no one to simply giver her water or help her stand or to nurture and comfort her until her final breath. Once again this causes the audience to feel sorry for the