The Politics Of Language In The Narrative Of Fredrick Douglass

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1. What is the author’s thesis? In other words: what is the main point running through the article? Be specific. You will want to provide a short summary of the article’s argument(s).
This article explores the politics of language as portrayed in the narrative of Fredrick Douglass. In the beginning he is shown to be silent and powerless. When he gains the ability to read he becomes increasingly powerful to increasingly vocal. “Douglass demonstrated the very relevant problem of exclusion and enslavement of marginal people by a dominant system that privileges and cultivates certain discourses and values” (YunLee 51). The thesis is stated in the article and runs throughout the body. “The use of language as a power tool in a slave society marginalizes …show more content…

The author’s analysis of the narrative of when Douglass is silent is strength of this article. “ In the first half of the book he never depicts himself as physically or verbally impacting upon situations nor does he even show himself imagining to do so”(YunLee 52). The author draws the use of the word I to our attention to denote the suffering in silence and the abuse of the other slaves. The author’s strength in her writing style was to correlate what was transpiring with his positions as a silent narrator and passive on looker. The author’s weakness in her writing style was only portraying the negative and difficult times of Fredrick Douglass’s life and not his future …show more content…

Yun Lee is director of the school of art and art history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This is a classic story of a man that suffered the evils of slavery. The author shows how in the first half of the narrative he is silent and powerless, as he witness horrific displayed of brutality to him and other slaves. As he acquires the ability to speak by becoming able to read he becomes more powerful and increasingly voice. Yun Lee argues the point of powerlessness and silence resulting in marginalization and enslaves people who are outside of o prevented from learning the dominant language. She instructs on qualities of the politics of language. This is an instructional article researching into his writing style and why this is an excellent clack slave narrative. I recommend this to anyone interested in black

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