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Lydia Bjorklund

Mr. Sellek

AP English III

14 March 2017

Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

Slavery had existed in the United States for generations and had been around since the

founding of the country. Many southern plantation owners during the 1800s used slavery as a

source of free labor and often used religion to justify the use of slavery. Slavery was the building

block of the Southern economy and people heavily relied on it. Slaves were not considered

“persons,” but treated and handled as property. Slaves were treated in gruesome, animalistic

ways and because of this people began the anti-slavery movement. Abolitionists opposed slavery

and fought to raise awareness of the issue. One of these abolitionists was African American

writer and former slave, Frederick Douglass. He wrote an autobiography describing his personal

experience as a slave and revealed the life of a typical slave. In order to reveal the inhumanity

and horrors of slavery, Frederick Douglass used understatement, personal anecdotes, and violent

imagery to effectively achieve his purpose.

To reveal the horrors of slavery, Douglass used understatement to demonstrate his

purpose. Throughout the whole novel, Douglass incorporated understatement to emphasize the

impacts of slavery. His use of understatement reveals to the reader that all of the horrors he saw

as a slave began to make him numb. The calmness of his tone as he told the readers about the

murders slave owners committed reveal how much these incidents happened. For example the

way Douglass described some conflicts between master and slave show how numb he had

become to all of it. One of these incidents was a conflict between a slave, Demby, and a slave
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master, Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore had whipped Demby so much, Demby fled to the river to soothe his

pain. Mr. Gore gave Demby three chances to get out of the river, but when Demby did not

respond Mr. Gore put his pistol on him. Douglass then states, “In an instant poor Demby was no

more.” This is a significant understatement as a murder was just committed. Usually, people

would have more to say than just those few words, but these confrontations happened often and

the slaves became used to them. This brings out the animalistic side of the slaves. The slaves had

become so used to beating, they did what they were told to avoid them, just as sheep or cattle do.

Understatement reveals the animalistic and inhumanity of slavery. The use of understatement

shows how common beatings were and how unjust these treatments were.

Douglass used personal anecdotes to reveal the horrors of slavery. An anecdote is a brief

story put in a piece of writing to prove a point. An example of an anecdote in this autobiography

was when Douglass’s grandma was expelled from the plantation. In chapter eight, his

grandmother was sent to live all by herself in the woods because she was too old to work

anymore. Despite caring for the master when he was a child, taking care of him at his deathbed,

and her faithful service she was sent out. This anecdote showed that slavery purely places value

on physical worth, rather than the person’s humanity. This whole novel is a collection of

Douglass's experiences as a slave. Personal anecdotes make the autobiography impactful because

the audience is getting a first hand account of the life of a slave. Douglass does not sugar coat the

events that transpired in his life.

Slaveholders often used beatings and violence to prevent their slaves from stepping out of

line. To display the inhumanity of slavery, Douglass used violent imagery of these types of

beatings. One incident of this was the beating of Frederick Douglass’s Aunt Hester. One beating

was particularly brutal. In this interaction, Aunt Hester was tied up to a joist and whipped “her
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naked back till she was literally covered with blood.” This beating showed how slave masters

could abuse their slaves anytime, for any reason. Later in chapter ten, Douglass is beaten so

badly he can barely walk. He described himself as covered in blood from “the crown of my head

to my feet” and the wound on his head was so bad he thought he was going to bleed to death.

Just as the last incident, this showed how the master had complete control over a slave and how

the slaves were treated as animals or property. Gruesome imagery was used at times to show

how horrible and monstrous slavery was. Imagery was also used to show the conditions slaves

had to put up with and how hard they had to fight to survive.

Douglass used this autobiography to reveal the horror of slavery. This novel was

significant to the abolitionist movement and an important piece of literature that symbolized

what an abolitionist stood for. Frederick Douglass made more people aware of the inhumanity of

slavery and increased awareness for the abolitionist movement. He wanted people to know how

slaves were treated and he wanted to raise of question, why does slavery exist? Douglass used

understatement, personal anecdotes, and vivid imagery to effectively demonstrate his purpose.