Frederick Douglass Figurative Language Essay

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Fredrick Douglas explained his view and recounts his emotions when he arrived in New York in 1838. He explained his views with so much description by allowing the reader to create an image in their head based on the description. Slavery was a very serious and brutal situation. Douglas explained his account far more than saying how bad slavery was. He used many common comparisons, so people could actually understand what he went through. Although Fredrick Douglas went through a serious event, such as slavery, he used figurative language and many examples to portray this event vividly.

Fredrick Douglas used a lot of figurative language to create images for the readers. Douglas explained that when he arrived in New York, he felt as “like …show more content…

Douglas always felt like he was “pursued by merciless men- hunters and in total darkness as to what to do, where to go, and where to stay” (49-50). Douglas used this example to demonstrate how lost he was. He felt like wherever he was, he was subject to the possibility of being taken back to slavery. He was homeless, without a friend, and without any money. He was always alert when he was around white men. When Douglas first arrived in the free state, he felt “ as one may imagine the unarmed mariner to feel when he is rescued by a friendly man- of -war from the pursuit of a pirate” (14- 16). This is another example that Douglas used to demonstrate that he viewed his escape like a life or death situation. He felt as if he had been saved from a problem he would have not lived to see another day in. Each of the examples Douglas used was a great comparison for the readers to understand Douglas’s point of view. Slavery is a subject that only people from that time period went through. African Americans suffered so much being slaves. It is a topic that everyone could agree that was very tragic, but no one that went though it can say they know exactly how it feels. By using these common examples of comparison, Douglas let the readers imagine and feel what slavery was like to

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