In the book, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, we see the hard lives the slaves went through. The physically, mentally and emotional abuse from the “masters.” I the book Douglass talks about personal feelings in his history and that helps us understand the intense abhorrence and repugnance the American slave had for his possessor. The typical American slave standard of living was worse than most of the poverty stricken countries of today. Most slaves were not as privileged to be called as “fat and happy.” Slave “owners,” simply did not have to provide adequate food and clothing because there was no regulation or laws that enforce it. Despite of all of these abuses and horrible unhuman circumstances slaves lived, politicians embrace the slave owners’ behaviors.…
The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, titled “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, utilizes five key literary devices in order to better convey Douglass's journey from enslavement to freedom. This includes the use of Imagery, diction, first person point of view, specific details, and allusion. Each of these is used to help convey the experiences of slavery, as well as the joys and fears of being a freed slave.…
From the beginnings of America in 1619 to 1865 the institution of slavery has had a detrimental effect on the humanization of both black and white individuals. In his narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, author Frederick Douglass explores not only his experience with this abhorrent establishment that was slavery, but the personal anecdotes of others that, combined, strengthen his overall argument that the institution of slavery has been dehumanizing for not only blacks, but whites as well.…
Time after time in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author shows horrific and grotesque experiences that Frederick Douglass went through in his time as a slave. In his book, Douglass reveals to a Christian audience the evil corruption of slavery upon a Godly society.…
Frederick Douglass has finally managed to run away from one of his masters to become a free slave, but yet he feels fear and paranoia. As he runs away, he contemplates all the possibilities of him getting caught by slaveholders or even turned in by his own kind. And it upsets him having to pass all the houses and food, but he has no shelter and starves with no food. This in fact heightens the intensity of his fear and paranoia because he is more likely to be caught with no where to hide and having no energy to run because he is starving. In The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, he utilizes things such as parallel syntactic structure, paradoxes, figurative language, and caesuras to help portray his feeling of built up unease and terror.…
Frederick Douglass was born as a slave in 1818 on a plantation in Maryland. After many years of enduring the pain and horrifying experiences of being a slave and then running away and staying hidden, he bravely published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. His narrative tells of his life as a slave, secretly learning to read and write, then leading up to his escape and the beginning of his life in New York. He uses a strong array of syntax, powerful sentence structure, and familiar poetic and biblical references to pull the reader in. These literary techniques are meant to make the reader feel the same fear, helplessness, and anger Frederick Douglass and many other slaves felt at the time.…
Frederick Douglass was many things; he was a former slave, abolitionist, and impressive writer. Despite having his early years plagued by abuse and hardships like any other slave, he was able to overcome these hardships and was able to become a free slave by escape. What sets him apart from other slaves however, is that he was able to write with such power and become an example for his people. This is reflected in his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As Douglass recounts the story of his years as a slave and his journey to escape the hold of his masters he uses rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, personification, and polysyndetons to give the reader of his story a vivid description of what his life was like when he was still a slave.…
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass and published in 1845, tells the story of a former slave who emerges as a passionate abolitionist and advocate for the end of American slavery. The purpose of the narrative is to describe the obstacles Douglass faced as a slave in America and to uncover the mental and physical abuse he suffered. Through these experiences, Douglass highlights the venoms of slavery, suggesting that the mere ownership of slaves can poison even the most kindhearted person. In chapter six, Douglass focuses his narrative on his new slave owner Sophia Auld and also introduces two mistreated slaves, Mary and Henrietta, to support his central claim that slavery can deteriorate a person’s character and physical body.…
Heroes are not famous. Heroes are those forgotten into days society because they do not flaunt their actions for everybody to see. Certainly not a football star who donates to charities out of the millions they earn in a single paycheck since that is giving when you have everything or their manager told them it would look good. Or the people that sit behind the desk for a charity instead of adventuring to the places that need that support and help. A hero is someone who is not ignorant to the problems in the world and devotes him or her selves to building their vision of an exceptional world on a based on honesty.…
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, is a moving written account of Frederick Douglass’ harrowing experiences as a slave, and his journey into freedom. In his critical essay “Douglass and Sentimental Rhetoric,” Jefferey Steele argues, that despite being objective, Douglass’ account is mixed with Pathos, complicating the straightforward chronicle. While pathos is evident in the text, it does not complicate the memoir’s straightforwardness. In fact, Douglass’ straightforward tone naturally co-exists with the pathos in his story. Douglass’ logically driven narrative is emotional within itself, and by providing the logical sequences he creates pathos, because the events in his life were so traumatic. Within the subtext, the combination of pathos and logos attacks the ethical dilemma of his life- of slavery, education, and identity, creating a piece masterfully interwoven with logos, pathos and ethos. It is the combination of the three which makes his work so effective.…
According to the narrative of Frederick Douglass, during the 19th Century, the conditions slaves experienced were not only cruel, but inhumane. It is a common perception that “cruelty” refers to the physical violence and torture that slaves endure. However, in this passage, Douglass conveys the degrading treatment towards young slaves in the plantation, as if they were domesticated animals. The slaves were deprived of freedom and basic human rights. They were not only denied of racial equality, they weren’t even recognized as actual human beings.…
In the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass’s sad tone helps the reader understand the effect that his literacy had on his thoughts and feelings toward slavery. Douglass describes how his mistress had given him “the inch” that he needed to learn to read and how he used bread to convince the little white children to teach him. He soon found the knowledge of how horrible his enslavers were. “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 120-121). This quote describes how he is depressed because he had learned the truth of his enslaves and wished that he would forget the truth. Although learning to read was a great ability he had acquired, it was a curse that led…
Slavery is taught in many, if not all, educational systems in a way that focuses on the maltreatment of Africans by Whites. This concept is usually unanimously understood to be wrong and immoral. However, very few look beyond the beatings into the social structure of the slaves. Frederick Douglass’s, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, does not specifically focus on the slave social structure. Yet, if one were to look deeper into the book, the irony of the prejudices of the slave class can become more apparent.…
In Peter Ripley’s essay “The Autobiographical Writings of Frederick Douglass,” he states that, “The Narrative signaled Douglass’ emergence as a committed abolitionist and suggests his developing intellectual skills during those early years of freedom” (135). Ripley describes throughout his essay how Douglass started as a slave, fought for his freedom, became an average lecturer, and in the end became, “Ambitious and intellectually curious… reading reform literature, participating in discussions and absorbing the lectures of his associates” (136). Ripley describes Douglass’ early lectures as unintellectual because of how long he had been a slave, using “plantation dialect” (136). Early on, Douglass got the image that he wasn’t an actual slave. So, he started to write about his slave experiences, giving names and dates to all the things that had happened to him to give himself authentication and to knock out some of the rumors about him and his past. One of Douglass’ biggest critics was a man by the name of A.C.C. Thompson, who wrote that he had known “the recent slave by the name of Frederick Bailey” (138) trying to disprove all of Douglass’ firsthand accounts. Douglass responds to the statements by describing his time as a slave and explaining that without those experiences there was no way that he would’ve been able to write The Narrative in the Life. Ripley then goes on to explain how writing The Narrative was a major sign of Douglass’ growth and maturity. This essay explains how Douglass transformed from slave to abolitionist then on to sharing his life experiences by lecturing and educating others.…
The “Narrative life of Frederick Douglass” was more than an autobiography. It summarized historically, politically and legally what it was like to be a slave back in the 1840’s and on, but through he’s experience & journey also provided a much broader picture and detailed insight of what actually takes a slave to gain freedom and how each individual must free themselves from slavery rather than thinking that is just something that its given. In he’s autobiography; Douglass writes all of the hardships he encountered since he was born until the day that he becomes a free man. His words transmit such emotion and feeling that its almost unbearable to read and believe all the horrors that took place that for many, many years slaves had to endure. With perseverance Frederick Douglass escaped slavery, he made himself free mentally & physically and he explains just how luckily he was to achieve that.…