Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Recommended: An Analysis of Frederick Douglass' Narratives

Rhetorical Analysis of Fredrick Douglass “You have seen how man was made a slave; you shall see how slave was made a man” (Douglass 64) The quote above defines the book Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass an American Slave. Douglass’s Narrative is a journey of showing the audience the road from slavery to freedom. He is born into slavery, and just like most slaves of his time he was unaware of his exact date of birth. During his life he has spent time at many different plantations. Douglass is separated form his mother soon after he is born. His father on the other hand is most likely the clerk of the plantation, a white man. Douglass’s life on this plantation is not as hard as that of most of the other slaves. Being a child, he serves in the household instead of in the fields. In the beginning of …show more content…

These appeals are based on the demographics of the readers, so the process of persuasion is more powerful. Ethos is based on the credentials of the writer. For example, if the writer proves that he or she is smart they are practicing ethos. Pathos on the other hand has more to do with emotions of the text and how they affect the reader. Writers practicing pathos know the demographics of their readers, making readers feel sad, angry, pity, and happy are mostly used forms of pathos. Fredrick Douglass focuses on both ethos and pathos when comes to persuasion. The most powerful example of ethos takes place in chapter one when he says he does not know his birthday, unlike white civilians. Opening with this information tells readers that he can be trusted because of his direct personal experience. Douglass provokes reader’s emotion with use of language in a way that helps audiences empathize with him. For example, he one of his masters have hired a man to have sex and reproduce with a slave woman for profit. He having to live with that and the vivid description shows a lot of

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