Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Fredrick Douglass, writer and former slave in his novel “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”. Douglass’s purpose is to inform that the religious people who were supposed to be pure were the most evil people that lived. He forms the ways of pathos to show the readers the tragedies that he experienced and pathos to show his connection to the subject of slavery. The Underground Railroad was a great way for slaves that were persecuted to finally be free of their depressing life. Beginning with a disapproving statement about the well-known Underground Railroad “I have never approved of the very public manner in which ……. what they call the Underground Railroad, but which I think, by their open declarations, has been made…show more content…
However he may have only had the education to that of a young child but he was able to use very complex literal techniques. In the appendix he starts of by establish his credibility by using many personal pronouns. He uses this to help the readers acknowledge that he knows what he is talking about. Then he proceeds to create a sense of highly emotionally charged texts by comparing the Christians who don’t have slaves due to their religious beliefs , while the “Bad Christians “ whip their slaves for absolutely nothing and then attend church the same day. Fredrick will tell of his love for the Christians using word such as: pure, peaceable, holy, and impartial. While emphasizing his distaste for the Christians that are “wicked, slaveholding, corrupt, women-whipping, cradle plundering, and hypocritical.” He continues to admonish the pompous religious men who don’t properly take care of their slaves and have no care for whatever happens to them. He mocks the evil Christians by stating “We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cow skin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus, who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation.” Continuing to ridicule the slave masters who mistreated him and his family he says “He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity.” Douglass begins to compare the Christians to “devils dressed as angels and hell presenting the semblance of

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