Rhetorical Analysis Of Frederick Douglass

During the 1800s in the Americas, Frederick Douglass and the African slaves show their desires for freedom to the whole world. Douglass writes “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” to express his dismay towards the foundations of American values. Due to its acceptance in American society, he sees the holiday as a eye opener to the distance between blacks and whites in American society. Since people refuse to identify slavery as a problem, his motive is to encourage abolitionists and Americans to take a more urgent approach towards ending slavery. Due to his frustration, Douglass delivers his speech in 1852 with powerful rhetorical to show that the need for the abolishment of slavery proves to be vital for the growth of the United

Throughout the speech, Frederick Douglass uses his childhood memories as a slave to evoke sympathy from his audience. As he emphasizes the hardships faced by American slaves, Douglass uses emotional appeal to show his dismay towards the meaning of July 4th. When mentioning American slave trade from his perspective, Douglass claims that “the custom was very wicked...hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries” (Douglass 8). Diction such as “wicked” and “chains” adds more of a dramatic effect towards Douglass’ living conditions; he shows that slaves are the people suffering by using imagery involving one being trapped in a jail. Since he has been through slavery and escaped from it, he has a present fear of being returned back to it. As Douglass displays his true feelings about slavery, he says that “everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America” (Douglass 8). Even though Americans come together on July 4th to celebrate their accomplishments, he uses the word “sin” to show that America 's accomplishments have no value because of slavery. Through his emotions and personal flashbacks, Douglass was able to directly attack the audience’s emotions. Douglass recalls seeing a young mother “whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun....bring tears falling on the brow of his babe in her arms” (Douglass 7). He portrays the mother as the sufferer/underdog in the fight for independence. Since shoulders represent one of the strongest parts of the human body, Douglass shows that the mother is practically defenseless. He uses words such as “scorching” and “falling” to directly reach the audience’s