Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

Through his use of anaphora, antithesis, and parallelism, Frederick Douglass demonstrates education's role in determining a person's position within the institution of slavery.

"She now commenced to practise her husband's precepts. She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as well as he had commanded; she seemed anxious to do better."

By using anaphora in this sentence, Frederick Douglass highlights his mistress' quick progression from a kind woman, to a violent slaveholder. He says that when he first arrived she was very kind to him, but soon after she was "anxious to do better" than her husband at commanding the slaves. By using the word "she" at the beginning of each sentence and not using any transition words such as "then.." or after that..." in between, it makes her progression seem quicker. Being a slaveholder is what teaches his mistress (a good hearted woman) to be violent and cruel master.

"Under it's influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way top one of tiger-like fierceness."

Douglas uses antithesis here by contrasting the imagery of the tender heart and the stone, and the lamb with the tiger. This highlights the changes slavery can cause in people for the worse, and how it effects everyone it touches.

"This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge."

-Bread is used in both parts of the sentence to represent how Douglass gained knowledge and the knowledge itself.

"Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper. She seemed to think that here lay the danger. I have her rush at me with a face made all up of fury and snatch from me a newspaper, in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension. She was an apt woman; and a little experience soon demonstrated, to her satisfaction, that education and slavery were incompatible with eachother. "

Douglas varies his use of pronouns to generalize who he is talking about. Although he is speaking about his personal mistress, by using different pronouns he is suggesting that there is a large group of people who are guilty of committing the sins she does.

"With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was set of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return."

Douglass uses an anectdote to give a real life example of how he was able to secretly act out during his enslavement. It makes the reader sympathize with Douglass and shows the hardships he endured during his attempts to educate himself while enslaved.

Emma Bochner

Sarah Brewer

Alex Gustafson

Alex Trage

"Under its [slavery] influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness."