Tagulao Rivera 1

Leelan Tagulao

Dylan Rivera

Ms. Woelke

AP Lang / P.5

8 September 2017

Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

Until the end of the Civil War, slavery was a prominent practice in the United States.

Slavery showed its savage ways upon every slave who did not deserve its terrible treatment. The

brutality of this time was conveyed through the words of Frederick Douglass, who used a

plethora of rhetorical devices to explain its reality. From Frederick Douglass’ experience, he

understood and was thus able to demonstrate how horrendous slavery was through his use of

rhetorical devices.

In the beginning of the passage, Douglass employed the usage various rhetorical devices

to show his point, starting with an anecdote to propel the credibility of his ethos to his audience

in order to reveal the horrors of slavery. The use of an anecdote becomes evident when Douglass

says “If any one thing in my experience…” to imply he is speaking about this topic from his

experience. The fact that this is explained from first hand experience makes everything he says

seem more true; its essence lies in the words told by someone who actually lived through it.

Douglass then proceeds to use his pedantic diction to thoroughly explain how life within the

grasps of slavery affected him severely. The first encounter of Douglass’ extraordinary diction is

when he explains how slavery has “[filled] [him] with unutterable ​loathing​ of slaveholders” to

make sure the audience understands how much he despises slavery. The strong word usage
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carries a tone that implies his extreme dislike for slaveholders - reflecting a result from the

terrors of slavery that Douglass demonstrates in the passage. Additionally, Douglass uses direct

characterization to emphasize his view on slavery. He describes his grandmother as “...my poor

old grandmother” and follows this with explaining her loyalty to and support of her master -

nevertheless still a slave, killed with no sympathy from her master. The positive traits Douglass

highlights of his grandmother make one think that she would be deserving of justice for her

selfless actions, yet she is dramatically killed and her “good” characteristics don’t receive

anything in return, not even the littlest of sympathy. It proves his point that slavery is a terrible

thing that demolishes the preconceived notions of a good outcome to someone who does virtuous

things. Through these usages of wording, Douglass has already convinced his readers of the

awfulness of slavery by the beginning of the passage.