Rhetorical Analysis Reading of What to the Slave is the Fourth of July (1)

Rhetorical Analysis Reading of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 into slavery in Maryland. Like many other slave children, Douglass was separated from his mother and the rest of the family when he was moved to another plantation at the young age of six. At the age of twelve, Douglass was owned by a man named Hugh Auld. Hugh’s wife taught Douglass the alphabet, but Hugh believed that literacy in slaves was dangerous and might incite them to want freedom. Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write, and he began to read anything and everything he could get his hands on--newspapers, books, etc. Douglass was eventually sold to a cruel man named Edward Covey who beat and whipped him. When Douglass was 18, he escaped from Covey’s farm and fled north. Douglass became a prominent abolitionist who spoke out against the evils of slavery. In 1845, he wrote his first autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave . This book was widely read in the United States and was also published in Europe. It’s a powerful book that I highly recommend. You can read the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave here. In 1852, Douglass gave a powerful anti-slavery speech to the women of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. This speech is still considered one of the greatest anti- slavery speeches in history. It is this speech that you are now going to read and analyze. As you analyze the content and rhetoric in this speech consider how it compares to the content in the Declaration of Independence. How do both of these documents, both written for the Fourth of July, address the American Dream? As you read, notice what Douglass says both implicitly and explicitly. Such language is not simply for fictional texts, of course. Speakers and writers of informational and argumentative texts use such language also to evoke emotion and to share messages with their audiences. In addition to the things Douglass implies in his speech, notice how Douglass uses connotative language in his speech. Remember that while the denotation of language refers to the actual definitions of words, the connotation of words are the emotional meanings associated with those words. For example, the words thrifty and cheap are synonyms when they are used to describe people; however, although their denotations may be the same, their connotations are quite different. (I’d much rather be described as “thrifty” than “cheap”!)

Notice as you read, for example, how Douglass uses the words “fellow-citizens.” The denotation of these words is simple: a fellow-citizen is a citizen of the same nation as the person speaking. The connotation, however, is much different. As a black man, he was not a “fellow citizen.” He did not

Intepretation Ethos From the above, the author used in the sentence "This speech is still considered one of the greatest anti-slavery speeches in history." This sentence uses ethos, as it was a reference to public opinion and credibility to establish his own authority on the matter. Douglass also used ethos when he referred to himself as a "citizen." While his citizenship was not legally recognized, Douglass highlighted his commitment to the U.S. by publicly speaking out against slavery and advocating for freedom and equality. Pathos In the sentence "The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me," Douglass used pathos as he evoked emotion in the audience by hinting at the suffering of slaves. Logos Douglass used logos in the sentence "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine," as he logically reminded his audience of the inequalities that existed between slaves and free people on Independence Day. He demonstrated that freedom was a privilege many people were denied. 4pg 3pgs 8 15 x300: 4500