Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Devices
This summary covers only an excerpt of “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” which contains only three chapters—six, seven, and eight—yet these chapters are still enough to capture of the impactful narrative of Frederick Douglass’ life.
Frederick Douglass begins Chapter Six with his arrival in Baltimore as a young child, and the new life that awaited him there with the Aulds. The new family he was brought into was not as experienced with slaves as his former owners had been, and their inexperience showed. His new mistress was uncomfortable with having someone subservient to her, and disallowed Douglass from acting with “crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave.” (Douglass 32) Mrs. Auld …show more content…
Rhetorical Analysis
Written in a way that can only be described as thought-provoking, throughout his biography “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” Douglass utilizes a variety of rhetorical techniques and devices, among which are ethos, pathos, and comical irony. Douglass takes his experience as a child to persuade people of the horrors of slavery. His rhetoric not only captures the attention of his intended Northern audience, but also enraptures later generations of American people.
Ethos is a rhetorical device Douglass uses with a deft hand. With his eloquent speech and elevated words, people were hard pressed to believe that Douglass had actually been in slave. “He became increasingly frustrated with the white friends who encouraged him to keep his plantation accent in his speech or a trace of slave’s servility in his manner.” (Jennifer) Therefore, in his autobiography Douglass constantly concretes his authority in the matter of slavery by describing with detail the tragic life of his own experiences as a slave as well his observations of …show more content…
Douglass manages to incorporate wildly different varieties of rhetoric into a comprehensive, impactful book. So well-written is the narrative that even in the twenty-first century it is used as a prime example of good rhetoric. At the present, “rhetoric” has a negative connotation and has become a way saying someone is too clever with words. Rhetoric is an instrument, and as Douglass evinces with his autobiography, it is a tool that can be used for
Frederick Douglass begins Chapter Six with his arrival in Baltimore as a young child, and the new life that awaited him there with the Aulds. The new family he was brought into was not as experienced with slaves as his former owners had been, and their inexperience showed. His new mistress was uncomfortable with having someone subservient to her, and disallowed Douglass from acting with “crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave.” (Douglass 32) Mrs. Auld …show more content…
Rhetorical Analysis
Written in a way that can only be described as thought-provoking, throughout his biography “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” Douglass utilizes a variety of rhetorical techniques and devices, among which are ethos, pathos, and comical irony. Douglass takes his experience as a child to persuade people of the horrors of slavery. His rhetoric not only captures the attention of his intended Northern audience, but also enraptures later generations of American people.
Ethos is a rhetorical device Douglass uses with a deft hand. With his eloquent speech and elevated words, people were hard pressed to believe that Douglass had actually been in slave. “He became increasingly frustrated with the white friends who encouraged him to keep his plantation accent in his speech or a trace of slave’s servility in his manner.” (Jennifer) Therefore, in his autobiography Douglass constantly concretes his authority in the matter of slavery by describing with detail the tragic life of his own experiences as a slave as well his observations of …show more content…
Douglass manages to incorporate wildly different varieties of rhetoric into a comprehensive, impactful book. So well-written is the narrative that even in the twenty-first century it is used as a prime example of good rhetoric. At the present, “rhetoric” has a negative connotation and has become a way saying someone is too clever with words. Rhetoric is an instrument, and as Douglass evinces with his autobiography, it is a tool that can be used for