I thought that this week's reading about Frederick Douglass was incredibly striking. I knew little of his personal history and the way that he continued what little education he was able to receive as a slave from the wife of his master was inspiring when considered with the rhetorical prowess he would come to exhibit. Douglass' drive to make a stand against slavery resulted in the influence of The Columbian Orator, a book on speeches and rhetoric, and to this end, I feel that Douglass' contributions to rhetoric should be considered an excellent example of rhetoric's positive connotations, which are largely ignored in society today in lieu of the oft-times critical lens with which it is viewed.
Douglass' skill as a public orator led to much criticism, generated by the unique nature of his public persona which was atypical in the field of modern rhetoric in years past. As a consequence, Douglass strove to construct ethos with his audience, often a difficult and trying feat as many refused to accept him based on his merits because of his background. He had either never been a slave or was not producing his own work. To disprove this Douglass published an autobiographical narrative that revealed candidly the nature of his past, supplying the slave narrative genre with a challenge new addition: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
The piece provides a strong voice for the abolitionist movement as Douglass cites clearly that slavery is a direct crime against humanity through the descriptions of his experiences as a young boy. As Douglass says, "I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart." Instances like these round out Douglass' rhetorical skill with his attention to the audience. A large part of his argument focuses on establishing ethos, and he is perfectly aware that he needs to connect with the audience on a human level, which is exemplified through his appeals to emotion and eloquence.
I too was moved by Douglass' piece. While he is a known figure within society, little is truly known about his life, which is important because it shows the true struggles that he endured to become the figure that he did in society. I felt that he was a very striking figure, during the time that the abolition movement came about and rights and equality for all was becoming more of an issue.
ReplyDeleteThe in depth discussion on Frederick Douglass provided me with a deeper base of knowledge on the nature of his rhetoric. The stylistic and rhetorical devices he employed were effective in that they rendered his arguments timeless and cemented his place in the history of rhetoric.
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