Rhetorical Analysis Of The Excerpt By Maria W. Stewart

Slavery is a humongous topic involving both slaves and former slaves. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Story is one such story. Douglass suffered punishments, and watching others get punished, he uses those experiences to make his argument against slavery.Douglass’ tone in the narrative is sarcastic and dark. Frederick Douglass successfully uses vast quantities of rhetorical devices, illuminating the horror and viciousness of slavery, including the need to eliminate it.

Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.

In the passage, The Horizontal World, Debra Marquart states, “Driving west from Fargo on I–94, the freeway that cuts through the state of North Dakota, you’ll encounter a road so lonely, treeless, and devoid of rises and curves in places that it will feel like one long-held pedal steel guitar note” (Marquart 1). Debra Marquart, along with several others, share a great passion for the Midwest. The Midwest is an area that is truly full of the unknown, as much of its qualities are not known to society. The Midwest can easily be viewed as bland and insipid, yet also overly structured and undisclosed. It can be exceptionally difficult for one to fully understand the Midwest due to its size and variation. Although, all in all, it most certainly can be described as an area, whose positives are not know by all. In Debra Marquart’s writing, The Horizontal World, she utilizes comical satires and evident allusion to characterize the land of the upper Midwest.

Possibly the three most important components a writer must understand are audience, genre, and rhetorical situation. When reading critically we become acquainted with these concepts therefore become better writers ourselves. While learning about rhetorical writing and composition we have analyzed Billy Collins “ Commencement Address at Choate- Rosemary Hall” , Martin Luther King Jr’s “letter from Birmingham Jail” and Lloyd Bitzer’s essay on “Rhetorical Situation”. In this paper I will analyze and make connections between the concepts of audience, genre and rhetorical situation in connection to the fore-mentioned readings. In doing so I will focus on how each used these concepts as means to communicate their main ideas and purpose.

This passage can be divided into three distinct sections. The first section is where he uses rhetorical strategies to get his point across. The second section is where he uses a literary device to appeal to his audience's emotions. The final section is where he uses multiple questions to strengthen the

In the extract “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass tells the intended audience about his experiences as a slave living in his master’s house and how he went through many trials to learn to read and write. In this excerpt, Frederick Douglass uses imagery, contrast, pathos, ethos, logos, an empathic tone, certain verb choice, and metaphors to inform African Americans of how crucial it is to learn how to read and write and to inform an audience of caucasian Americans of the wrongdoings that slavery has brought about. Frederick Douglass is often persuasive using pathos to get across to the intended audiences.

Willa Cather has a great understanding of diction and thoroughly displays it in My Antonia. Anton Jelinek, a newly arrived immigrant from Bohemia, still calls Italians, “Eytalian … kawn-tree … we was showed in” (69) and mispronounces country and does not yet understand English grammar. He comments that, “I make my first communion very young,” (71). Jelinek’s informal dialogue fits his character because he is an immigrant and has just barely started to learn English. Therefore, his bad grammar, his accent, and mispronunciations make sense for who he is and where he came from, especially when taken into account where he is in his life. In contrast, Jim, who grew up in America and is native to the land, has a highly developed vocabulary and comments on how things are, “taciturn … [or] queer,” (72) and notes that Krajiek, “shrunk along behind them,” (75). He describes the, “bluish air, full of fine eddying snow, like long veils flying,” (76) and uses the words, “propitiatory intent” (77). Jim has a more formal language and is more educated that the immigrants of the towns. It is logical because it is written from the view of Jim as an adult looking back. As he looks back, he finds more complete words to describe situations that when he was actually in them. Jim’s vocabulary enlarged over time, so changes in how he describes his memories or reasonable.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are both nineteenth-century narratives about Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’s experiences born into slavery and as escaped slaves. The concept of gender makes each narrative have distinct perspectives’ of their version of what they endure during slavery and how it shapes their freedom. Even though both narratives have many similarities of educating the complexity of being a vulnerable slave, Harriet Jacobs’ narrative provides more reason that slavery is far worse for women than it is for men.

In Literature, rhetorical devices are often used to place emphasis on certain ideas or descriptions, to make an idea clearer, or to provide insight and to smoothly relate topics. Throughout his collection of essays, Scott Russell Sanders utilizes rhetorical devices in order to make his statements and ideas more vivid and clear for the reader. The rhetorical devices offer a more descriptive and insightful look into Sanders’ thoughts on his childhood, personality, and view of the world around him. Throughout the book, Sanders’ uses rhetorical devices ranging from allusions of events and people from the past to employing a varied tone in order give the audience a clear view into his thoughts

In the short play A Raisin in the sun conflict’s both internal and external occure for in three of the main characters regarding their dreams. When the opportunity came for them to accomplish their dreams through using the insurance money they’ve come across from the loss of a family member, one of the main characters, Walter, wishes to be successful in life; but he needs the insurance money to do so. He wants to use the insurance money to open up a liquor store because he believes this would change his life. A exceptional quote that shows his determination to be successful in life is when he speaks to Ruth “You tired, ain’t you? Tired of everything. Me, the boy. The way we live-this beat up hole-everything”(

In the narrative excerpt “Learning to Read and Write” (1845), which originally came from the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass recapitulates his journey into the coming of literacy that shifts his point to how slavery really is. Douglass develops and supports his main idea by providing a flashback of his own experience as a slave learning to read and write and through dialogue with rhetorical appeals, such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Douglass’ apparent purpose is to retell his story of the obstacles he faced to finally become a free man to guide and prompt other fellow slaves to finally take action for their freedom; he also wants to establish a foundation in which people of higher power, such as abolitionists, are more aware of the slavery situation. The intended audience for this excerpt is the general public of the time consisting of fellow slaves, slave owners, and abolitionists; the relationship Douglass establishes with the audience is equivalent to a news reporter and the people receiving the message—he exposes the truth to them.

Harriet Jacobs, a black woman who escapes slavery, illustrates in her biography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) that death is preferable to life as a slave due to the unbearable degradation of being regarded as property, the inevitable destruction of slave children’s innocence, and the emotional and physical pain inflicted by slave masters. Through numerous rhetorical strategies such as allusion, comparison, tone, irony, and paradoxical expression, she recounts her personal tragedies with brutal honesty. Jacobs’s purpose is to combat the deceptive positive portrayals of slavery spread by southern slave holders through revealing the true magnitude of its horrors. Her intended audience is uninvolved northerners, especially women, and she develops a personal and emotionally charged relationship with them.

In William Lloyd Garrison’s speech, “No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery”, the argument for the abolishment of slavery is presented. He uses many rhetorical strategies in order to connect with the audience and to convey his message. Garrison critiques slavery through rhetorical questions and by employing logos, ethos, and pathos.

Hughes’s descriptive writing prompts the reader to visualize strong images of oppression in America. The speaker provides an image of an extremely suppressed group of people in the statement: “I am the red man driven from the land” (Hughes 21). This simple phrase creates a picture of the Native Americans being driven from their lands and forced to live on undesirable land, and, as a result, this invites the reader to acknowledge their severe oppression. Similarly, the speaker mentions the people who were “torn from Black Africa’s strand” (Hughes 50). This generates an image of boats packed with a depressing amount of broken people, waiting to be sold into slavery. These visual examples portray the severity of the situation that many Americans found themselves in. These

Frederick Douglass, a former american slave born in Maryland, begins his narrative with a reflective tone which forces the reader to think about the grim reality of the situation. “I have no accurate knowledge of my age,” such a common ability is usually not thought about as a great privilege. The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” gives an insightful view on the dehumanization of slaves. Frederick Douglass makes an effective argument against the slavery through his use of various and descriptive anecdotes, expressive colorful imagery, and emotional appeals to pathos in order to connect with his readers by rhetorical appeals and devices.