Redo of Rhetorical Analysis of “How to Read and Write” (Frederick Douglass)
During an era of slavery, manifest destiny, and no hopes of abolition, Frederick Douglass depicts a world where slavery enters the kindest of souls, and pollutes the soul to have no kindness left, only hatred and anger. In the empowering narrative “How to Read and Write”, Douglass sheds light on the cruelty of slavery and its pervasive impact, though his journey to ultimately gain his ability to think through reading and writing. Douglass manages to pull this off by first speaking about his Mistress and their interactions, followed Mistress’ transformation, and finally, the detrimental effects of thinking. Douglass begins his narrative by discussing his case with …show more content…
Slavery at first had no effect on the way that Mistress perceived Douglass, until she had no other option, but to stop teaching Douglass, as instructed by Master Hugh. Douglass narrates this transition through sentimental diction, as he states that slavery came to “...divest her of these heavenly qualities” Divest has a power negative connotation, which allows Douglass to explain the harshness and brutality of slavery, along with slavery’s pervasive impacts. Mistress’ transformation does not end there; Douglass continues to express the transformation through metaphors and juxtaposition. Douglass further elaborates on this issue by stating the way Mistress’ “...the tender heart became stone”. The metaphor contributes to Douglass’ purpose by depicting the way slavery spread to not only slaves but to slave owners. The slave owners became more aware of their power and what the slave owners can do with that amount of power on someone. Furthermore, these same effects are seen while Douglass mentions the way Mistress’ “...lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness”. This juxtaposes the way how Mistress was brought up while growing up, a devout Christian as most people were back in 1845, to the fierceness of a tiger to emphasize the fact Christianity could not get in the way of stopping slavery, as the Bible allows slavery, which many took advantage
During an era of slavery, manifest destiny, and no hopes of abolition, Frederick Douglass depicts a world where slavery enters the kindest of souls, and pollutes the soul to have no kindness left, only hatred and anger. In the empowering narrative “How to Read and Write”, Douglass sheds light on the cruelty of slavery and its pervasive impact, though his journey to ultimately gain his ability to think through reading and writing. Douglass manages to pull this off by first speaking about his Mistress and their interactions, followed Mistress’ transformation, and finally, the detrimental effects of thinking. Douglass begins his narrative by discussing his case with …show more content…
Slavery at first had no effect on the way that Mistress perceived Douglass, until she had no other option, but to stop teaching Douglass, as instructed by Master Hugh. Douglass narrates this transition through sentimental diction, as he states that slavery came to “...divest her of these heavenly qualities” Divest has a power negative connotation, which allows Douglass to explain the harshness and brutality of slavery, along with slavery’s pervasive impacts. Mistress’ transformation does not end there; Douglass continues to express the transformation through metaphors and juxtaposition. Douglass further elaborates on this issue by stating the way Mistress’ “...the tender heart became stone”. The metaphor contributes to Douglass’ purpose by depicting the way slavery spread to not only slaves but to slave owners. The slave owners became more aware of their power and what the slave owners can do with that amount of power on someone. Furthermore, these same effects are seen while Douglass mentions the way Mistress’ “...lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness”. This juxtaposes the way how Mistress was brought up while growing up, a devout Christian as most people were back in 1845, to the fierceness of a tiger to emphasize the fact Christianity could not get in the way of stopping slavery, as the Bible allows slavery, which many took advantage