Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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The idiosyncratic style Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass depicts the discriminatory actions of postcolonial slave owners in the southern United States, which reflects their greed for unpaid labor on their plantations. He employs the metaphor of the book that their masters prohibited them from owning by law throughout the memoir to demonstrate the avarice that drives white slave owners to turn a darker-skinned, intelligent being into a machine for personal benefit for centuries after the colonization of America. Also, the irony further displays the power of greed by expressing the slaveholder’s uncivilized method of forcing another human out of civilization. Furthermore, his use of a paradox of the use of pure religious beliefs to justify a slaveholder’s inhumane treatment reveals their rapacious actions that contradict the teachings of the church. In the narrative, the speaker, an African American slave recalls his removal from his family and denial to the right to learn to read and write …show more content…

Christianity, often linked with innate goodness and charity, defends men who continue to rape, abuse, and commit other sins. This reveals the paradox of the situation. As man becomes more and more reliant on this manpower for their luxuries, they turn to methods such as praying for salvation. “The religion of the south is a mere covering for the most covering crimes...strongest protection” (67) expresses the power of religion as a driving force of evil instead of good. The 19th century plantation owner prays to prove his devotion, which excuses him for his irreligious

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