Describe one of Douglass’s writing strategies that gets your attention. Quote or paraphrase the moment you are discussing and explain what he is doing and why it caught your attention. (Remember: for the Unit 1 Assignment, you will be writing your own speech or letter.)
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Professor: Dr. Ruth G. Garcia
Email: RGarcia@citytech.cuny.edu
Office hours: Tuesday 10:30-12:30
This is a course in effective essay writing and basic research techniques, including use of the library. College-level readings are assigned as the basis for classroom discussion and for essay writing.
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One of Douglass’s writing strategies that gets my attention is his directness. He is keen on getting his point across without beating around the bush. A quote that shows this is “Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. Many of you understand them better than I do. You could instruct me in regard to them. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue” (Douglass 6). Rather than dwelling on a matter that mostly everyone know about such as how the Fourth of July came to be, he goes straight into the point as to why the Fourth of July is something that is not worth celebrating from his perspective. This caught my attention because he didn’t speak a whole entire story of how the day came to be what it is today, but he explained his thesis and gave issues that stem from it and support his argument.
One of Douglass’s writing strategies that caught my attention was his use of parallelism because when he used repetition of similar phrases it made the speech easier to comprehend and these phrases were easily remembered. An example of his use of parallelism was when he stated, “what, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters”(Douglass 10). In this quote, he is constantly repeating the phrase “what am I to argue that it is wrong to…,” which captivates the reader while trying to stress an important point. Without making the speech boring or lengthy, the short phrases help Douglass to string several thoughts and claims together.
One of the writing strategies that Douglass used is a personal anecdote. Douglass talks about his experiences he witnessed. He talks about how terrifying it is to see posters where African Americans are wanted for slavery. Douglass also provided a great usage of language that describes his exact moment to help visualize what he is going through such as, ” in the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been aroused by heavy footsteps and the pitious cries of the chained gangs that passed our door.”
One of Douglass’s writing strategies that caught my attention would be argumentative. Especially when was would explain how the “Divine Plan” was just another sham for Americans to be delusional to the problem, the problem of slavery. What he’s doing is bringing it to the audience attention that what’s being done and what has been done is wrong, and that they know what’s going on, especially the church people. The fact that they turned to a blind eye, knowing that they could’ve spoke up and had a huge impact to the ending of slavery shows how weak they were.
One of Douglass’s writing strategies that caught my attention was his use of analogies. A quote where does this is in”The simple story of it is, that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The style and title of your “sovereign people” (in which you now glory) was not then born. You were under the British Crown. Douglass using the terms “subject” and “crown” is done with purpose to emphasize the lack of freedom there really was. Subject is used with the intent to show that we were being controlled and used like pawns, since we weren’t free. Crown is used with the intent to show that they had power and control.
One of Fredrick Douglass writing strategy that caught my attention is how he is able relate the issue of slavery to the freedom given to people by the Fore-fathers. He is able to clearly state the Forefathers fought for independence and liberty of the people. Which is known today as 4th of July yet many people cannot really call the day of celebration when many people are in bondage. Yet people preach the same freedom the forefathers had fought for, how great the country is. Fredrick Douglas states “There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour”(10). The nation takes African-Americans and mistreat them and treat them less than human beings, yet are willing to preach about god given life, liberty, and property. I thought it was really good how he was able to compare the freedom ideology to slavery.
I’m not sure if this is a writing technique per se, but his blunt communication style is what caught my attention. In his speech he didn’t sugar coat anything to lighten the blow against the oppressors or the White Americans who celebrate the 4th. The quote where I noticed this in particular was “The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.—The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” In this quote he is direct and unwavering in his intent to make you understand how it feels to watch others celebrate the 4th while you sit in pain and sadness. It brings his point clearly and strongly in a way no one can argue that he is wrong. Even through words I can sense his seriousness and emotions.
The writing strategies that Douglas uses that catch my attention are that he is using pathos to appeal to his audience which are the founding father and very important people in the government. Douglas was very determined and by using emotional appeal and associating negative diction with the lives of the slaves, then he is able to create a very powerful speech and is able to get his point across in the best and easiest way possible. Douglas uses pathos by stating that “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” In this part Douglas discusses the degrading that slaves have to go through and the injustices they face everyday because of their color. He is saying that Americans are ignorant and that they are oppressing another group and putting one class in society above another. Douglas clarifies his ideals and uses negative diction to describe the injustices and hurt that is happening to black Americans.
One of many writing strategies from Fredrick Douglass that caught my attention the most is his honesty and straightforwardness towards his work. One quote in which we can see that his honesty and straightforwardness is presented in towards the beginning of the text, “That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say, I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium.
With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you.” This quote is a perfect example of how honest and straightforward he is throughout this writing, he explains how he actually is going to proceed with his writing, in which he has little experience and less learning with. There are other various of examples of how Frederick Douglass is honest and straightforward in his writing however this is just one of many. I personally like the way that Fredrick Douglass composed this writing and how he used his honesty and straightforwardness throughout his writing.
One of Frederick Douglass’s writing strategies that gets my attention is his use of irony. He uses irony in order to differentiate the lives of a white American and an enslaved African American. Showing the audience/readers that they have false expectations of what independence means to the one group compared to the other. “Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity” (Douglass, 3). Douglass states that while someone is oppressed it makes them a wise mad man, using a parallelism by saying that their fathers were those wise men. However, it is clear that these white men were never restless or enslaved, that is where he comes in the next sentence by stating that these people might’ve felt like a mad man because they were guilty for what they do to millions of African Americans. Adding the fact that these white slave owners are mad mans and are enslaved in their own heads because they have colonizations of lands full of African Americans doing labor work inhumanely, essentially making them the bad person. This is where the use of irony is used because he states that slave owners are the real mad men. It gives his letter more emphasis on his goal, which was to push the idea that their holiday is their suffering.
One of Douglass’ writing strategies that gets my attention is how he tries to relate to white people by comparing the oppression of black people to the way that the people in the American Colonies were oppressed by the English government. Douglass states, “The simple story of it is, that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The style and title of your “sovereign people” (in which you now glory) was not then born. You were under the British Crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper.” He is doing this so that people can have a better understanding of what it means to be oppressed and that people will revolt against oppression the same way the forefathers did.
One of Douglass strategies that caught my attention was the way he compared what was celebration of the 4th of July like for black people versus white people. This part of his speech is one of the moments I felt has a strong impact , “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license” I think this is such a powerful quote because at that time white people celebrated their freedom from the English Crown the 4th of July but they still used the same oppression to black people that they said in their declaration of independence was not permitted against men.
One writing strategy in this article, Douglass is speaking, to an audience. One quote that caught my eyes clearly is “There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States at this very hour” Douglass is directly speaking out to that group of people who practices this hypocrisy. And the message I think he is trying to send is that for a nation as big as the United State of America where you would expect this type of slavery action to be condemned, and let unity prevail is just the opposite is being done for generations and continues.
Here are the key strategies you have all identified in Douglass’s speech along with a few more from me:
He begins by being really humble and praising the founders for how they fought for freedom so that his audience will feel good and listen to him. But he then quickly takes it away says they are actually nothing like what they think—their freedom and religion is all fake. He also uses this comparison to make the argument that the abolitionists are like the founders who fought for freedom. He is using their values to say that his cause has the same ones and those that are enslaved have the same right to fight for freedom.
Diction—or word choice—like the use of the word “you” and “your” early on. Even before he clearly makes the point that he and other African Americans are not part of the celebration and of those who have freedom, he uses the repetition of “you” and “your” to highlight the inequality he is going to call attention to. Here with the word “you” and “your” he is also using repetition.
Like Wollstonecraft, Douglass uses questions to focus his speech and organize his point, but also to make the audience see the absurdity of his questions and of their stance.
His shifting tone and organization which starts out with praise and admiration and really. Builds a case for the cause of the founders and then slowly becomes more critical, direct, and negative as he likewise builds a case for the inequities and oppression experienced by African Americans. He then ends on a note of optimism for the possibility for change.
Use of imagery and descriptive language to draw a clear picture of the experiences and perspective of those in his community which the audience does not understand. He also uses this language to convey the feelings of those in his community.
The use of personal anecdotes, examples, and narrative to show his audience what the problem looks like and to persuade them through pathos or emotional appeal.
He tells them they’re experts on the Fourth of July –they know it better than him—and then he goes on to show that they really don’t because they’re not thinking about it from his perspective.
He attacks their core beliefs and values (freedom, religion, love of country, the constitution) and makes a case that these are actually missing. But he also uses these beliefs and values to build a case for his own position against slavery.
Throughout Douglass speech two strategies he uses that catches my attention are Pathos and Rhetorical questions. A quote that stood out to me was “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which He is the constant victim.” In this quote Douglass conveys an emotion of sadness when he specifically states “he is the constant victim” and uses the word “Injustice” and “cruelty” him putting all this together in a sentence conveys an emotion of sadness, when you think of someone being treated with injustice, you think of actions that are inhumane in where there is no justification for the action being committed. Throughout the speech Douglass conveys a lot of emotions and he himself expresses them. Americans celebrate the 4th of july which signifies freedom, but, yet take away African Americans freedom.