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Throughout the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Douglass constantly used system, figurative language, and selection of detail to strengthen his viewpoint of slavery, particularly in the 3 rd paragraph. In addition to the use of these literary techniques throughout the autobiography, Douglass also incorporated the use of parallel structure and repetition heavily in the body of the 3 rd paragraph. By doing this Douglass was able to portray his true feelings towards slavery, and later build and elaborate. Therefore Douglass' rhetorical purpose of the passage was greatly reinforced. Douglass' passage begins with carefully depicted details, along with syntax and figurative language. Throughout the first and second paragraphs Douglass discusses slavery and speaks as if to the reader.
The first few lines discuss the routine of work; how work was to be done in all types of weather on any type of day. This use of detail soon transpires into figurative language as Douglass "was broken in body, soul, and spirit. " The use of types of weather as a main cause of being a broken spirit is actually very fitting; much like people feel gloomy and down on a rainy day. The repetition of the word work, and the repetition and constant deed of Douglass' work also plays a huge role in the passage. The constant work seemed to have "transformed {him} into a brute. " Douglass also states that "the shortest nights were too long" and later describes slavery as the dark night.
This selection not only uses super repetition, but it also sets a dark and blackened tone. Douglass, however, then enhance the gloomy mood of the passage by describing beautiful, white vessels as ghostly and terrifying. Douglass uses the 3 rd paragraph to portray the true hardships he has been faced with as a slave, and how beaten his soul and his life truely are. The 3 rd paragraph of the passage is filled with literary devices and written in a monologue format in which Douglass speaks aloud to water and the passing sail boats. By formatting this paragraph as a monologue Douglass is able to add drama to the passage and strengthen the true power of his words.
The paragraph beings with strong use of parallel structure by using contrasting 'you' and 'I's treatments in which Douglass speaks to the ships who are sailing free, as he is imprisoned as a slave. This contrast of absolute freedom of the ships and the absolute lack of freedom of Douglass reinforces the true heartache of himself. The phrase 'O' is then used repeatedly thought out the following sentences, including two telegraphic syntactical sentence "O that I were free" as well as "O God, save me. " These two sentences, as well as many other short, telegraphic sentences that follow, all use imagery to aid the reader in feeling for Douglass' true pain in being a slave, as well as his longing to be free. Directly after Douglass enforces his vision to be free, he then discusses the thought of escaping and running to freedom. This topic begins with Douglass' idea of running away, then moves to the confidence he had in running away, and finally his content with his life for now. He does however hint that freedom is comming, but that he may not do anything to hurry the process for he is only one slave out of many.
The paragraph, which mimics a periodic sentence, finally ends with a telegraphic sentence which depicts the true confidence of Douglass' belief in god and himself: "There is a better day coming. " The 3 rd paragraph differed greatly from the other two previous paragraphs in that they were addressed to different people, used different literary devices, and were used to create a different effect on the reader. While the first two paragraphs expressed the breakdown of Douglass's of and body, the third paragraph went on to greaten this breakdown by contrasting his life as a slave to free sailboats. This shift and the differences between these two parts of the passage all reinforce the rhetorical purpose of the passage: that slavery completly transformed him from a human to an imprisoned animal.
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Research essay sample on Literary Devices Figurative Language
