Frederick Douglass Ethos Pathos And Logos

Slavery is undebatably one of the most violent, sinister, and wrongful events that took place in the US. While it was not always seen as immoral, slavery has a lasting impact on American society. Such an impact, this nation went to war over it. On one side there were the people that believed slavery benefitted the economy and civilized slaves, and on the other side were the abolitionist who emphasized the dehumanization of slavery. Frederick Douglass an abolitionist, orator, and former slave, makes an argument against slavery by utilizing the three main rhetorical strategies effectively: pathos, ethos, and logos. Douglass counters what his master said about the holidays, that breaks turn slave into lazy people when they are on break and to …show more content…
The way Douglass expressed himself had a direct impact with his life as a slave. When he speaks, he gets to the three main appeals of the reader: pathos, logos, and ethos. When reading, you can sense all three and that’s what makes it so effective, although sometimes there’s an obvious choice of which appeal of sense he’s addressing. Douglass contradicted many of the ideas made by his masters that sparked joy and motivation in the reader to keep supporting Douglass’ fight to freedom. Douglass also had the correct characteristics to have been an abolitionist, honest, intelligent, and hopeful. These traits made him gather the attention of many when he spoke and he was effective when getting a point across. So effective Douglass undeniably wrote a part of American history. He didn’t just stop there, he traveled to many places around the world to speak to people about his stories. He achieved to get his point across by alluding to achievements in his slave years, one day he learned to read and write, another day he’s able to keep up with the date, and finally he has escaped slavery. Great character, great knowledge, and great battle is what shaped Douglass to write one of the pieces of literature in American