The Journey from Fear to Freedom
Freedom is a component to which all of today’s Americans are granted. However, for African Americans in mid-1800s, freedom was restrained from them in the clutches of slavery. For Frederick Douglass, tortured slave and author of Resurrection, freedom was obtained through means of courageous retaliation. Douglass uses his autobiography to self-reflect on his rise from a slave bound to orders into a man free from the institutions peculiarities, as well as persuade and inspire others in the bondage of hardships. He effectively utilizes pathos through use of an impassioned personal anecdote and imagery to grasp the reader, compel the reader to have sympathy, and change the reader’s perspective on overcoming obstacles. …show more content…
Hours of dreadful labor on a sweltering August day caused Frederick Douglass to wither to the ground in fatigue. He stated, ”When I could stand no longer, I fell, and felt as if held down by an immense weight.” This allows the reader to visualize the exhaustion and pain that Frederick Douglass is undergoing. After noticing the fan stop, Mr. Covey, Douglass’ overseer, came to seek out the reason why. Frederick Douglass said about his feeble encounter with Mr. Covey, “He then gave me a savage kick in the side, and told me to get up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt. He gave me another kick, and again told me to rise,” as well as, “While down in this situation, Mr. Covey took up the hickory slat with which Hughes had been striking off the half-bushel measure, and with it gave me a heavy blow upon the head, making a large wound, and the blood ran freely; and with this again told me to get up.” The reader is persuaded to sympathize with Frederick Douglass because they are able to understand and connect to his emotions. After his journey to seek protection from his master, Frederick Douglass returns back to Mr. Covey’s. Douglass states, “I reached Covey’s about nine o’clock; and just as I was getting over the fence that divided Mrs. Kemp’s fields from ours, our ran Covey with his cowskin, to give me another …show more content…
Frederick Douglass decides to go ask his master for protection from Mr. Covey’s violence. Upon arrival, Douglass states, “ I told him all the circumstances as well as I could, and it seemed, as I spoke, at times to affect him. He would then walk the floor, and seek to justify Covey by saying he expected I deserved it,” and, “I told him, to let me get a new home; that as sure as I lived with Mr. Covey again, I should live with but to die with him; that Covey would surely kill me; he was in a fair way for it. Master Thomas ridiculed the idea that there was any danger of Mr. Covey’s killing me, and said that he knew Mr. Covey, that he was a good man, and that he could not think of taking me from him; that, should he do so, he would lose the whole year’s wages; that I belonged to Mr. Covey for one year, and that I must go back to him, come what might; and that I must not trouble him with any more stories, or that he would himself get hold of me.” Through use of effective a personal anecdote, Frederick Douglass was able to inspire and change the reader’s perspective on overcoming obstacles. Later, Douglass decides to carry the root, which will prevent him from being whipped, to please Sandy’s wishes. When talking about his encounter with Mr. Covey, Douglass says, “... I resolved to fight;
Freedom is a component to which all of today’s Americans are granted. However, for African Americans in mid-1800s, freedom was restrained from them in the clutches of slavery. For Frederick Douglass, tortured slave and author of Resurrection, freedom was obtained through means of courageous retaliation. Douglass uses his autobiography to self-reflect on his rise from a slave bound to orders into a man free from the institutions peculiarities, as well as persuade and inspire others in the bondage of hardships. He effectively utilizes pathos through use of an impassioned personal anecdote and imagery to grasp the reader, compel the reader to have sympathy, and change the reader’s perspective on overcoming obstacles. …show more content…
Hours of dreadful labor on a sweltering August day caused Frederick Douglass to wither to the ground in fatigue. He stated, ”When I could stand no longer, I fell, and felt as if held down by an immense weight.” This allows the reader to visualize the exhaustion and pain that Frederick Douglass is undergoing. After noticing the fan stop, Mr. Covey, Douglass’ overseer, came to seek out the reason why. Frederick Douglass said about his feeble encounter with Mr. Covey, “He then gave me a savage kick in the side, and told me to get up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt. He gave me another kick, and again told me to rise,” as well as, “While down in this situation, Mr. Covey took up the hickory slat with which Hughes had been striking off the half-bushel measure, and with it gave me a heavy blow upon the head, making a large wound, and the blood ran freely; and with this again told me to get up.” The reader is persuaded to sympathize with Frederick Douglass because they are able to understand and connect to his emotions. After his journey to seek protection from his master, Frederick Douglass returns back to Mr. Covey’s. Douglass states, “I reached Covey’s about nine o’clock; and just as I was getting over the fence that divided Mrs. Kemp’s fields from ours, our ran Covey with his cowskin, to give me another …show more content…
Frederick Douglass decides to go ask his master for protection from Mr. Covey’s violence. Upon arrival, Douglass states, “ I told him all the circumstances as well as I could, and it seemed, as I spoke, at times to affect him. He would then walk the floor, and seek to justify Covey by saying he expected I deserved it,” and, “I told him, to let me get a new home; that as sure as I lived with Mr. Covey again, I should live with but to die with him; that Covey would surely kill me; he was in a fair way for it. Master Thomas ridiculed the idea that there was any danger of Mr. Covey’s killing me, and said that he knew Mr. Covey, that he was a good man, and that he could not think of taking me from him; that, should he do so, he would lose the whole year’s wages; that I belonged to Mr. Covey for one year, and that I must go back to him, come what might; and that I must not trouble him with any more stories, or that he would himself get hold of me.” Through use of effective a personal anecdote, Frederick Douglass was able to inspire and change the reader’s perspective on overcoming obstacles. Later, Douglass decides to carry the root, which will prevent him from being whipped, to please Sandy’s wishes. When talking about his encounter with Mr. Covey, Douglass says, “... I resolved to fight;