Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay
During the Antebellum Era, many African-Americans were stripped of their freedom and sold ruthlessly into slavery. Throughout history, many writers and speakers utilize rhetorical strategies to achieve a specific purpose; similarly, former slave Frederick Douglass successfully confronts the issue of slavery through his narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas. Becoming a prominent figure in the abolition movement of slavery, Douglass utilizes appeals to emotion as well as a shift in tone to unveil the horrors of slavery and to foster the opposition to the institution of slavery.
To begin, Douglass appeals to emotion with the use of an anecdote in the first paragraph, following with the use of juxtaposition in the third paragraph to convey …show more content…
In the third paragraph, Douglass rants, ‘“Get caught, or get clear, I’ll try it. I had as well be killed running as die standing. Only think of it; one hundred miles straight north, and I am free! Try it? Yes!”’ (58-63). The variation in syntax is important to indicate. Douglass applies short sentences to convey the quick bursts of thoughts that enter through his mind and the desperation in his tone. Coupled with short sentences, there are moderate length sentences to further display his eager mindset of wanting to escape his cruel reality and his willingness to die in order to obtain freedom. In contrast to the third paragraph, the last paragraph’s tone shifts to one more hopeless when he contemplates, “Thus i used to think, and thus I used to speak to myself; goaded almost to madness at one moment, and at the next reconciling myself to my wretched lot” (82-85). This is significant because this paragraph is made up of only one sentence. The sentence is complex purposely to emphasize his physical movement. The commas and semicolons shows how Douglass reframes from the idea of running away, and comes to the conclusion that there is no hope for him. Douglass emphasizes slavery as a time of desolation, further calling for the immediate end of
To begin, Douglass appeals to emotion with the use of an anecdote in the first paragraph, following with the use of juxtaposition in the third paragraph to convey …show more content…
In the third paragraph, Douglass rants, ‘“Get caught, or get clear, I’ll try it. I had as well be killed running as die standing. Only think of it; one hundred miles straight north, and I am free! Try it? Yes!”’ (58-63). The variation in syntax is important to indicate. Douglass applies short sentences to convey the quick bursts of thoughts that enter through his mind and the desperation in his tone. Coupled with short sentences, there are moderate length sentences to further display his eager mindset of wanting to escape his cruel reality and his willingness to die in order to obtain freedom. In contrast to the third paragraph, the last paragraph’s tone shifts to one more hopeless when he contemplates, “Thus i used to think, and thus I used to speak to myself; goaded almost to madness at one moment, and at the next reconciling myself to my wretched lot” (82-85). This is significant because this paragraph is made up of only one sentence. The sentence is complex purposely to emphasize his physical movement. The commas and semicolons shows how Douglass reframes from the idea of running away, and comes to the conclusion that there is no hope for him. Douglass emphasizes slavery as a time of desolation, further calling for the immediate end of