Frederick Douglass Narrative Essay

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No wonder that the "slave's narrative" field was a dominant one in American literature during the slavery period. Some sophisticated slaves had used it a lot. It was one of the significant ways for them to prompt themselves. Right at the beginning of his argument, Douglass used a very strong statement: "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it." (Douglass) This sentence, which is in the second paragraph of the book, clearly depicts the writer's purpose in that it plays on the reader's sentiments. He could have used it somewhere further in his speech; but putting it right at the beginning of the story is a clear indicator that Douglass wanted to send a powerful message: Slavery degrades. …show more content…
Severe was rightly named: he was a cruel man. I have seen him whip a woman, causing the blood to run half an hour at the time; and this, too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading for their mother's release." (Douglass) This passage illustrates how harsh and heartless slavery was during Douglass' days. And the fact that Douglass had the valor to talk about it in relations and imageries portrays the vastness of his courage to condemn slavery in a time when such a position could have cost one his life. Similarly, Harriet Jacob used such dialectal in her events in the Life of a Slave Girl. First of all, let's study the fact that she used the word "girl" as part of the title of the book: That gave the book a feminist aspect, which will aid as the foundation for many literary critics to put it in the category of feminist literature. By so doing, she also set the stage for the book to be acknowledged by a large female audience, which appeared to be pretty much the case. Right at the beginning of the book, just like in Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there is a very interesting statement: "I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away."
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