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Douglass’ narrative masterfully argues the dehumanizing nature of the institution of slavery, as well as sets itself up as a foil to the belief that African Americans at the time couldn’t achieve a higher level of human nature. In order to show the ways in which Douglass’ accomplishes this throughout the narrative my paper will show how slavery was dehumanizing in its use of sheer physical violence, the treatment of slaves on the level of livestock or property, and the maintained state of ignorance of most slaves by their masters. While in the second half of my paper I will analyze Douglass’ use of metaphor & personification, imagery & sentiment, and the presentation of his own ideology & philosophical questioning to in fact exemplify the …show more content…
Furthermore, slaveholders held that with any form of knowledge being gained a slave would become discontent and unhappy, they were in a sense happily dumb because all they could and would want to be suitable for was the good of the master. They were dehumanized not only by the idea that they couldn’t achieve a level of knowledge even close to on par with that of a white man, but they were in fact also dehumanized by the notion that they had no use of the simplest forms of education. Altogether, through Douglass’ narrative it is made apparent that slavery effectively dehumanized African Americans, whether slaves or free men of color, by targeting them with the most extreme and cruel acts of punishment, without a care to their wellbeing aside from maintaining them at a level fit to work, casting them as cattle, or livestock, and property that can be easily replaced once they are of no use, and that as such low level beings are and should remain brutes to maintain value and ignorant …show more content…
For example, he once more instills an image of slavery as a hell that can twist and sully the most innocent of things with his description of his new mistress prior to and after the change brought upon by her introduction to slavery, “…a white face beaming with the most kindly emotions… Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music… That cheerful eye… soon became red with rage; that voice… changed to one of harsh and horrid discord, and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” Then there is the sentiment which he seeds well into his writing, it is often a great deal of pain and sorrow, along with once more gloomy imagery. This shows not only that he is capable of mastering prose and using knowledge effectively in contrast to the slaveholders belief, but it is also evidence of the great deal of sympathy and lamentation that could be present within any slave; it juxtaposed against the idea of a brute incapable of anything but serving their master and rather showed a being full of compassion that was in fact seemingly absent within the common slaveholder. Douglass most prominently demonstrates this in his response to the, in a sense, exile of his grandmother when her old age places her in a position of no longer being necessary, “The hearth is desolate. The children, the unconscious children,
The narrative enables Douglass to flaunt his hard-earned education. As stated before, his diction brings pathos to his work. He describes his experiences in a way that lets his audience feel the indignity of being owned by another person. For example, D...
The Narrative of Frederick Douglass brings forth a story of struggle throughout the 1800s. In the book, Douglass discusses the dehumanization of slaves through describing his own experiences. His narrative brings to question what it means to be human. As living humans, it is our responsibility to investigate this question as it applies to our own observation and behavior. Douglass illuminates the path towards becoming human by addressing the ways in which slaveholders justify inhumane actions such as rape and violence as simply doings of God. The hypocrisies presented throughout the narrative present the overall idea that deception is what drives slavery. The path towards humanization rests
Slaves remaining ignorant is all a part of the slave master's plan to keep slaves lower in society, essentially making them obedient and submissive.
In the passage of the Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, the author masterfully conveys two complimentary tones of liberation and fear. The tones transition by the use of diction and detail. The passage is written entirely in first person, since we are witnessing the struggles of Fredrick Douglass through his eyes. Through his diction, we are able to feel the triumph that comes with freedom along with the hardships. Similarly, detail brings a picturesque view of his adversities. Since the point of view is first person, the reader is able to be a part of the Douglass’ struggles with his new freedom. With diction, detail, and point of view, the reader is able to get a rare glimpse into the past of Fredrick Douglass.Fredrick Douglass’ diction is powerful as he describes his life as a slave and with his new freedom. Fredrick Douglass calls being enslaved an act of “wretchedness,” yet he was able to remain “firm” and eventually left the “chains” of slavery. Fredrick Douglass expresses that being enslaved is a wretched act and that no man should ever deserve such treatment. Despite being a slave, he kept strong and eventually broke the chain of society. However, Fredrick Douglass experienced great “insecurity” and “loneliness” with his new freedom, and was upon a new “hunting-ground.” His new freedom brought other devastating factors, being a new state without any friends, which caused his loneliness. In this new state, he grew insecure for he was in a new danger zone where at any time his freedom could be rejected. With new freedom come new obstacles, which are described in the diction of Fredrick Douglass.
Slavery existed in North America for 245 years, 245 years long and hard years in which slaves were treated with disrespect, put to shame, and abused. Some slaves have written about their hardships. One of these slaves was Frederick Douglass and in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” Douglass maintains that slavery dehumanized the slave. Dehumanization is the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. This can lead to increased violence, human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide. Fredrick Douglas was born in february of 1818 and died on February 20, 1895, he's an american social reformer, abolitionist, writer, and statesmen.
The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the author, Frederick Douglass, uses similes, insults, figurative language, and repetition to portray the dehumanization of slaves and slaveholders. To most slaveholders, African Americans were seen as beasts or wild animals, and they were treated as such. Kind slaveholders were a rarity in this time. Owning another person gave white people a sense of power and dominance. Douglass’ narrative accurately depicts the tragic brutality African Americans faced and the devastating effects of slavery.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave details the progression of a slave to a man, and thus, the formation of his identity. The narrative functions as a persuasive essay, written in the hopes that it would successfully lead to “hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of [his] brethren in bonds” (Douglass 331). As an institution, slavery endeavored to reduce the men, women, and children “in bonds” to a state less than human. The slave identity, according to the institution of slavery, was not to be that of a rational, self forming, equal human being, but rather, a human animal whose purpose is to work and obey the whims of their “master.” For these reasons, Douglass articulates a distinction between the terms ‘man’ and ‘slaves’ under the institution of slavery. In his narrative, Douglass describes the situations and conditions that portray the differences between the two terms. Douglass also depicts the progression he makes from internalizing the slaveholder viewpoints about what his identity should be to creating an identity of his own making. Thus, Douglass’ narrative depicts not simply a search for freedom, but also a search for himself through the abandonment of the slave/animal identity forced upon him by the institution of slavery.
As both the narrator and author of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself” Frederick Douglass writes about his transition from a slave to a well educated and empowered colored young man. As a skilled and spirited man, he served as both an orator and writer for the abolitionist movement, which was a movement to the abolishment of slavery. At the time of his narrative’s publication, Douglass’s sole goal of his writings was to essentially prove to those in disbelief that an articulate and intelligent man, such as himself, could have,in fact, been enslaved at one point in time. While, Douglass’ narrative was and arguably still is very influential, there are some controversial aspects of of this piece, of which Deborah McDowell mentions in her criticism.
This discourse that is found throughout Douglass’s speech is represented in many different areas. He further justifies this discourse by introducing the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and American religion. How men are examined like horses and the women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. This illustrates the terrible reality that many African Americans face. Douglass engages the audience by then asking rhetorical questions. The fact that he is speaking the day after the Fourth of July, a day that American’s celebrate their independence, yet slaves are not independent nor free, is scorching irony. For these slaves, it does not represent independence, it represents the gross injustice and cruelty to which they are a constant victim to. For these slaves, this so called “freedom” that is a part of the American ideology is nothing but a mere
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
In sum, all of these key arguments exist in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” because of the institution of slavery and its resulting lack of freedom that was used to defend it. This text’s arguments could all be gathered together under the common element of inequality and how it affected the practical, social, and even spiritual lives of the slaves.
Many of his vivid descriptions of how the slaves were treated and talked are clearly aimed to hit a soft spot. Mr. Alud called Douglass awful names and spoke of him like he was property. “Now,” said he, “if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him” (Douglass page 30). If a slave got lucky there new mistress would be nice but more times than not she was mean. Another story about Douglass’ life that he put in the book to make the reader’s sympathies, was the cruel mistress Mrs. Hamilton. “The girls seldom passed her without her saying, “Move faster, you black gip!” at the same time giving them a blow with the cowskin over the head or shoulders, often drawing the blood”(Douglass 31). Many things in Douglass’ narrative supported pathos and how it appealed to the
In using descriptions of slave life, ironic situations, and general frankness, Douglass is appealing to the emotions of his audience. Douglass is letting people know of the terrors of slavery by touching their emotions. He gets them motivated by being interesting and then builds upon this by describing his life in simple terms that all humans can relate to.
A common theme in these narratives and in slavery as a whole was dehumanization. Dehumanization is the deprivation of human qualities, personality, or spirit (Merriam-Webster). Slave owners constantly used dehumanization to show their dominance over slaves and further prove that they were the higher beings. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, slave owners dehumanize slaves by grouping them with animals. Choices are a make or break deal for Linda. In this case, one of her choices broke her and cause Dr. Flint, her master, to say, “I supposed you thought more of yourself; that you felt above the insults of puppies (Jacobs, 35)”, which manages to group her with animals. Dr. Flint calls Linda