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The narrative of the life of frederick douglass analysis
The narrative of the life of frederick douglass analysis
Frederick Douglass analysis journal
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Point of view
The point of view provided in The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is mainly in the form of first person. Due to the fact that the novel is written by Frederick Douglass himself, he chose to write out his life points in a first person style. This means, of course, that the majority of the story is from his perspective. He chooses to use words such as I, we, or us, very commonly. There are short sections in which he speaks about things he has heard of or knows from other sources, and these may or may not be written in a first person manor.
Characterization The main character, and the author, Frederick Douglass, is a very brilliant and kind hearted person. Frederick, being both the narrator and main character, doesn’t
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I ended up finding it to be rather interesting to read and came out with inspiration for stories of my own. That being said, I would like to point out the fact that if I had not been reading this novel with the sound of heavy metal playing in my earbuds, I would most likely have been lulled to sleep by its text. Personally, I find this is a great way to read a story which may have a more dull sense to it (Don't worry, I did read everything, the music was in no way hindering my ability to understand and appreciate the text at hand. All it did was provide a pace in which I could follow when reading that livened up the tone.). The writing was esquisiantly articulated and enthralling to engage. There are beautifully thrilling and moving moments scattered throughout the book, such as when one of his slave owners, mr. Covey, tried to attack him, thus from that came one of my favorite quotes from this novel, “... at this moment-- from whence came the spirit I don’t know -- I resolved to fight; and as I did so, I rose. He held on to me, and I to him. My resistance was so entirely unexpected, that Covey seemed taken all aback. He trembled like a leaf” (42). He shows with his words true strength and a mighty sense of justice. This quote shows his stern feeling towards those who dish out pain and suffering to their fellow man and show his commitment to protest their cruel and unjust acts. Other moments are more meaningful and moving, providing a more …show more content…
PBS. Web. 05 May 2016.
"AfricaResource The Place for Africa on the Net." Willie Lynch: A Brutal Guide to Breaking the Enslaved African. Web. 05 May 2016.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Slavery Quotes." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 05 May 2016.
"Slaves Are Prohibited to Read and Write by Law | North Carolina Law (1830-31)." Slaves Are Prohibited to Read and Write by Law | North Carolina Law (1830-31). Web. 05 May 2016.
Theme The theme of this topic is rather straightforward. More than multiple times is it mention throughout the novel, “No one person should forbidden the rights of another”. While it takes form in many ways, I feel this to be the most common idea. Fredericks goes on many rants and lectures about how it was unfair that he should not know his birthday and cruel to be forbidden his mother's embrace. When Frederick eventually gained his freedom, he made many contributions to the ending of slavery, but it still took many many years for everyone to have equal rights. Even when they say that people are being treated equally, it may not be true. Sadly, because of the world we live in, it is very challenging to truly end things like prejudice and sexism. While slavery may have come to an end, its concepts of equality still linger on. True, they have become few and far between, but threads of it remain even to this day. The only way to truly end something as monstrous as slavery, is to band together
Frederick Douglass, an African American social reformer who escaped from slavery, in his autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself,” denotes the perilous life of a slave in the South. Through syntax, Douglass is able to persuade his readers to support the abolitionist movement as his writing transitions from shifting sentence lengths to parallel structure and finally to varying uses of punctuation. Douglass begins his memoir with a combination of long and short sentences that serve to effectively depict life his life as a slave. This depiction is significant because it illustrates the treatment of slaves in the south allows his audience to despise the horrors of slavery. In addition, this
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.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Frederick Douglass himself, is a brutally honest portrayal of slavery's dehumanizing capabilities. The style of this famous autobiography can be best described as personal, emotional, and compelling. By writing this narrative, Douglass wants his audience to understand him. He does this by speaking informally, like a person would when writing a letter or telling a story to a friend. By clearly establishing his credibility and connecting with his audience, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices to argue for the immorality of slavery.
The novel Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, published in 1845, provides Americans with a firsthand look into slavery prior to the Civil War. Douglass, born a slave early into the nineteenth century, encounters and survives the task of living as a slave. Within the ninth chapter of his life, an argument arises that claims Southern Christianity differs immensely from its Northern counterpart. A majority of Christians in non-slaveholding states at the time believed that Christian slaveholders were kinder after they converted, Douglass worked to invalidate this claim. In chapter nine, the ingenious use of dispassionate tone and allusion throughout the passages support the claim that a simple conversion to Christianity only gives justification to cruel southern slaveholders.
This is fundamentally different in Douglass’s narrative. It is written in the first person singular and o...
The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass is written to have people place their feet in the shoes of Frederick Douglass and try to understand the experience he went through as a slave. Douglass writes this piece of literature with strong wording to get his point across. He is not trying to point out the unpleasant parts of history, but to make people face the truth. He wants readers to realize that slavery is brutalizing and dehumanizing, that a slave is able to become a man, and that some slaves, like himself, have intellectual ability. These points are commonly presented through the words of Douglass because of his diction.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: New American Library, 1987. 243-331.
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
Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. A. A. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
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.
The reader is first introduced to the idea of Douglass’s formation of identity outside the constraints of slavery before he or she even begins reading the narrative. By viewing the title page and reading the words “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself” the reader sees the advancement Douglass made from a dependent slave to an independent author (Stone 134). As a slave, he was forbidden a voice with which he might speak out against slavery. Furthermore, the traditional roles of slavery would have had him uneducated—unable to read and incapable of writing. However, by examining the full meaning of the title page, the reader is introduced to Douglass’s refusal to adhere to the slave role of uneducated and voiceless. Thus, even before reading the work, the reader knows that Douglass will show “how a slave was made a man” through “speaking out—the symbolic act of self-definition” (Stone 135).
When one thinks of slavery, they may consider chains holding captives, beaten into submission, and forced to work indefinitely for no money. The other thing that often comes to mind? Stereotypical African slaves, shipped to America in the seventeenth century. The kind of slavery that was outlawed by the 18th amendment, nearly a century and a half ago. As author of Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People, Kevin Bales, states, the stereotypes surrounding slavery often confuse and blur the reality of slavery. Although slavery surely consists of physical chains, beatings, and forced labor, there is much more depth to the issue, making slavery much more complex today than ever before.
In this final research analysis, I will be doing a comparison between the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” and the “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” to show how both Douglass and Rowlandson use a great deal of person strength and faith in God to endure their life and ultimately gain their freedom.
Society is so deceivable into believing that what is accepted by society is also correct and reasonable. One would not usually question the humanity of customs if one benefits in return. Frederick Douglass wrote The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as a way to depict the development of a dehumanized slave progressing into a free man. Frederick Douglass did not start to reconstruct his own self identity until he broke the bindings of being ignorant which his masters placed upon him.
After analyzing these significant events that had happened in Douglass life, the overall purpose of writing this autobiography was not to explain to people how he achieved freedom but to showcase how different scenarios that had occurred at these plantations did not define him as a person but shaped him into the person he had become. Slavery was something that broke the spirit of people mentally, physically, and emotionally that may have caused to them to not seek hope in a better outcome of life. Douglass was able to become a free slave and accomplished man after he enslavement. He never hindered on the fact that he was once a slaved but used these events to his benefit to make a successful career. Secondly, Fredrick Douglass narrative depicts that although terrible things happened on these plantations, he wanted readers to be able to read all the violence that occurred to show them how real and horrifying slavery was.