Fredrick Douglass
Frederick Douglass aims in this passage to lay bare the wretchedness of a horrible sin, slavery. Another part of his purpose is to justify his escape. He attempts to convey his feelings and thoughts through a variety of techniques such as telegraphic and paratactic sentences, as well as numerous literary devices such as repetition, dialogue, figurative language, and a varied tone. Additionally, he uses a rich diction to convey his thoughts in painstaking detail. Furthermore, Douglass entirely changes his style in his third paragraph and this further reinforces his point. A main component of Frederick Douglass's writing style is his syntactical variety. He uses many telegraphic sentences to drive home his purpose. For example, in the first paragraph, Line 11 Douglass writes, "Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me." This telegraphic sentence helps the reader visualize exactly what Douglass's condition was. He is literally broken as a human being. He also uses paratactic sentences to reinforce his purpose yet again. H
Douglass's diction is another vital component of his style. His third paragraph is distinguished from the rest of the passage in that the diction is so very rich. He writes, "Alas! Betwixt me and you, the turbid waters roll...I am in the hottest hell of unending slavery...I am confined in bands of iron." He adds, "You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip!" He is angry, and yet utterly destroyed within. His words are those of suffering, he pleads with all his soul. The pain is evident in his words of despair. In this third paragraph, he convinces himself to escape, he is as a madman, he claims, "I had as well be killed running as die standing." Similarly, Douglass uses numerous literary devices in his third paragraph, only many times more than in the rest of the passage. The paragraph stands out because of its beginning, with dialogue. The whole paragraph is a soliloquy, full of bitterness and utter despair. Douglass is laying bare his soul to the world to read. He goes so far
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Approximate Word count = 693
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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