Lauren Weber

Ms. Woelke

AP Language

2019 September 18

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass​ Close Reading Analysis #1

In the autobiography “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” an excerpt

conveys a gut-wrenching account of his grandmother's life as a slave. Throughout the excerpt,

Douglass uses rhetorical strategies to appeal to the readers emotions and emphasize the

inhumane and unfair treatment that persisted in the southern states towards slaves. Frederick

Douglass’s use of anaphoras, and including multiple dashes throughout his recollection of his

grandmother's life paints a picture of how all slaves suffer the same fate no matter how hard they

worked.

Frederick Douglass emphasizes the suffrage his “poor old grandmother” faced from birth

to death. He was raised by his grandmother, therefore having the closest connection with her

throughout his entire family. As his grandmother raised him, along with many other wonderful

children, “she had” worked hard in the fields daily and “she had” helped her owner raise his

source of income (12-13). Nonetheless, she was a “slave for life” and nothing could change the

way her owner viewed her. Douglass repeatedly used the word “she had” emphasized all the

greatness she brought to not just the plantation she worked on, but even raising many children all

on her own. No matter how hard she worked, she was never given any ounce of credit nor any

sense of comfort when her end was near. As Douglass’s grandmother was getting closer to death,

he couldn’t help but feel sorry that he couldn’t be there for her as “she falls-- she groans--she
dies” during her last moments (70-71). Douglass purposefully added the dashes in this paragraph

to slow his readers down and let them fully digest the thought of dying a slow, lonely death.

Once a slave was born, they were a slave till the end; no fair treatment, no reward for helping,

nothing was given to thank them for what they had done. Douglass grew to become an educated

man; however, his grandmother led him to become an abolitionist and fight for the freedom of all

slaves. Throughout his autobiography, Douglass never forgets to engage his audience and

captivate them with the horrors of slavery and encourage a change to be made. His use of

rhetorical devices put into perspective how no slave was rewarded for their hard work and

determination.