Frederick Douglass Emotional Appeal

In history, slavery is regarded as one of America’s largest downfall. Many experiences have been documented to the public by victims of slavery. Two of the most infamous works are Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacob’s Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl. The novels had a mutual purpose of convincing a White Northern audience of the terrors of slavery in order to finance or join abolition. Douglass uses an emotional appeal and credibility to achieve his purpose. Harriet Jacobs also uses these appeals in her novel. However, Douglass’ narrative is more effective to the reader.

Frederick Douglass establishes an emotional appeal by describing violent attacks upon slaves. Douglass illustrates his brother’s experience with a slaveholder, “…took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from

his nose and ears.” This causes the reader to visualize the horrid, physical attack towards a human being. Jacob’s attacks upon slaves are not nearly as violent. She says, “It was the first time he had ever struck me…” The reader still considers this an inhumane attack. On the other hand, it is not nearly as violent or descriptive of the reoccurring attacks written by Douglass.
In Douglass’ text, he describes events that are more horrific than Jacob’s.

Douglass provides examples to the reader regarding the horrors of slavery. Douglass states, “…blood and brains marked the water where he stood.” The example given by Douglass leaves the reader shocked and horrified. This specific text gives a strong emotional appeal of sympathy and disgust. Jacobs does provide an example of the insensitivity of slaveholders, however; her example is less effective for emotional appeal. Jacob’s statement “My grandmother remained in her service as a slave…” displays that slaveholders did not care the age or importance of a person; all they cared about was that their work was getting done and they did not have to do it themselves. As long as a slave was alive, even in the slightest bit, they remained under the control of their master. Jacobs was held in a place where slaves were cherished, although for the wrong reasons. Douglass lived in a place where slaves were considered worthless and easily killed at the smallest sign of

disobedience.
In Douglass’ text, he proves to contain more credibility than Jacobs. Douglass is proved to be more credible by William Lloyd Garrison when he says, “I attended an anti-slavery convention…which it was my happiness to become acquainted with Frederick Douglass, the writer of the following narrative.” William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. This established automatic credibility for Douglass before the narrative began. In addition, he proceeded to reveal the crude experiences he had personally during his time in slavery. This displays that Douglass has personal credibility as well as outside supported credibility. In contrast, Jacobs did have credibility, just not as much as Douglass. She also experienced slavery personally, but hers was not as cruel and she provides no supporting evidence from another source to prove her credibility. The reader is expected to believe only what she says, with no proven facts. Therefore, the reader must insinuate that everything in the novel is true and that she is a trusted source.
During the time of slavery, many horrible occurrences happened to the African American population. Douglass was one of these people that happened to be fortunate enough to learn to read and write in order to document his experiences for the public. Although both works of literature portray the same purpose to educate and persuade the White Northerners to take action regarding abolition, Douglass does a better job of earning emotional appeal and credibility with the readers. His text is more effective with his specific examples that elicit emotion and facts that are backed up by the voices of other credible sources.