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The Trauma of Slavery

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The deep-rooted history of slavery benefited some but traumatized much more. The victims of slavery had to encounter not only suffering but also mass quantities of shame get the freedom they have now in America. Frederick Douglass gives readers a slave’s experience firsthand. In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” the author, an African American who escaped slavery and became a social reformer, write, orator, and statesman: claims that the path to freedom is through suffering. He interoperates this message by using parallel structure, metaphors, and _______ throughout the book. By carefully examining the text the reader can find these rhetorical devices, along with many others not stated, to help understand Douglass’ purpose to the book: to paint a realistic portrait of slavery, and that the path to freedom is through pain and suffering. Frederick Douglass creates an extremely emotional and intricate tone that may be confusing to the reader at times. The author uses logos to convince the reader that the stories he tells are the truth so by not revealing the anger he has towards slavery is to his best interest. But, while he is holding in this anger he wants the reader to be angry as well because slavery is not right so he lets his real emotions every so often. He first shows this using parallelism by stating, “I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial.” Frederick Douglass explains to the reader how the life of a slave is, one most likely does not know their own mother and has no emotional connection with them because they are separated from each other at a young age so therefore death is not hard to handle. Using parallelism creates the reader to feel bad for the son and makes a sensitive situation. This is not how a family should be. To stop this way of slaves living Frederick Douglass becomes an abolitionist. He also exemplifies in chapter two, “crying for joy, and singi

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