A Rhetorical Analysis Of Frederick Douglass

Written in the early 1880’s, Frederick Douglass captures the life as a slave in order to educate the United States at the time. By 1860, there were 3,953,761 slaves living in the United States, making up 12.6% of the entire population. Douglass writes about being captive as a save in Maryland from the time of his birth in 1818 to the age of 20 in 1838. Using ethical and emotional appeal, he writes to educate people about the real life as a slave and also to persuade the need for reform. Douglass not only tells this tale, but also those of the people nearest to him. In chapter one, he begins to tell the story of his mother. Since he was born a slave he was separated from her at a significantly early age. She would walk approximately 12 miles from a neighboring plantation in order to spend a night with him. Being that this was punishable by slave owners, she would have to begin walking back before dawn to be able to perform her days work and not get caught by the plantation owner. This happened a total of 4 to five times before her death. Douglass was not allowed to attend her burial. He assumes this is because his owner might have also been his father, which would give his mother a reason not to be able to see him again after birth. Within the same chapter, he also speaks of …show more content…
The 13th amendment which prohibits slavery, was passed 20 years after his book, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, was published. As the author, Douglass used ethical and emotional appeal to show how slavery was immoral and needed abolishment. He used past experiences from his own life and the lives of those around him, forcing the reader to feel empathetic towards them. Douglass also introduces readers to the living conditions and social pyramid within the slave life. Without Frederick Douglass’ works, the progress made by abolitionists at the time may have taken longer than they