Happy Early Birthday to Frederick Douglas

Hey blog, guess what? It’s Black History Month.

Diving into the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass himself brings readers into a life through the eyes of a slave. Douglass used multiple literary methods to convey his feelings through the experiences he’s encountered, making readers want to step up and advocate for a change. In the narrative, it states, “I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (1). The use of diction like “deprived” evokes pathos, a method used to persuade readers throughout his narrative to become active abolitionists.

The vivid detail and use of descriptions of the horrid actions of his plantation owners and overseers allow the reader to put themselves in his shoes, witnessing this themselves and tapping into their own emotions, making them want to reach through the pages and actively put an end to this shameful dehumanization being documented. Douglass makes the statement, “When he spoke, a slave must stand, listen, and tremble; and such was literally the case” (17). The word order of "stand," "listen," and “tremble” sets the reader up to know the only result a slave could truly encounter was agony; there was little to no chance a slave got lucky.

Douglass describing and taking note of how the life of a slave impacted him only makes the reader sympathize more with his life circumstances; it allows them to embody the sadness of a slave themselves. For example, “The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness” (14). Another literary device is seen in this statement of Douglass’s, “What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn” (34). This metaphor used by Douglass reveals to the reader the weak link he was able to discover within the white man's ideology of slavery. Douglass was now aware that knowledge was something a white man feared a slave possessed. This metaphor also symbolizes what Douglass believes is the key to freedom: no longer being trapped under the ignorance slaves have forced upon them. This metaphor explains where a master's power lies and how Douglass was able to unfold the true key to dismantling that power, which became his new-found desire.

Douglass using his feelings through metaphor, syntax, and description towards being a slave, his feeling towards the desire of freedom, and his feelings towards the dehumanization he’s witnessed during his time as a slave inflicted on the others gives the readers enough voice while reading to say stop and that’s wrong to anyone willing to hear, making them embody the role of abolitionist.

I’ll leave you with these lines from the preface in hope that, as a fellow reader, more people will be encouraged to take a stance and advocate against slavery even today, as it is still seen in different forms. “This Narrative contains many affecting incidents, many passages of great eloquence and power; but I think the most thrilling one of them all is the description Douglass gives of his feelings, as he stood soliloquizing respecting his fate, and the chances of his one day being a freeman, on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay—viewing the receding vessels as they flew with their white wings before the breeze, and apostrophizing them as animated by the living spirit of freedom” (Preface).