Essay On Dehumanization In The Life Of Frederick Douglass

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a very powerful and important piece of work when it comes to understanding the dehumanization and harsh treatment of the slaves in Pre-Civil War United States. Frederick Douglass uses crucial detail in his narrative to make the reader understand just how badly the slaves were truly treated and how profoundly unequal slaves were from everyone else during this time. Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies throughout his narrative in order to really shape how the readers are going to interpret the narrative, and to allow the reader to develop an understanding of his major theme of dehumanization. He uses detailed descriptions of brutal beatings, repeatedly mentions the contrast between the white citizens and black slave’s treatment, and exposes the …show more content…
The usage of these repetitive contrasts between slave’s and whites basic human rights are used to really show just how ignorant and dehumanized the slaves were kept.
The hypocrisy of Christianity within the slaveholders is another rhetorical device used by Douglass in his narrative. Throughout the narrative Douglass describes how southern slave owners would defend the idea of slavery by claiming that they were introducing Christianity to the slaves, and Douglass being a Christian, realized that it was not true. Douglass wrote in the appendix, “the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” What he means by this statement is that the slave owner’s actions in which the slaves are improperly overworked without enough food and rest, beaten and murdered are a hypocritical practice of