Pen In The Gashes Quote Reflection Essay

Thoughts on Frederick Douglass Pen is The Gashes Quote

In the novel Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, it is Douglass intention to make an effective argument against slavery. He does this by evoking a powerful logical response from his reader through his contrasted tone, and by using rhetorical writing strategies such as syntax and repetition to get his message across very clearly.

On pages 42-43, Douglass writes the following:

I was seldom whipped by my old master, and suffered little from any thing else than hunger and cold. I suffered much from hunger, but much more from cold. In hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost nakedno shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing but a coarse tow linen shirt, reaching only to my knees. I had no bed. I must have perished with cold, but that, the coldest nights I used to steal a bag, and there sleep on the cold, damp, clay floor, with my head in and feet out. My feet have been so cracked with the frost, that the pen with which I am writing might be laid in the gashes.

While Douglass talks about suffering from hunger and cold, he doesnt intentionally add sentences that tell the reader what to do or what to think. The reader will never find Douglass saying something such as; Because I suffered from hunger and cold, which is clearly dehumanizing, you should abolish slavery. Instead, Douglass leaves the facts as they are, with sentences so simple as; I had no bed. Douglass tone is so factualistic, it is almost chilling. The way he writes so sincerely about something so horrible is truly heartbreaking, and the imbalance of tone and words, Douglass readers sense the logical reality to his words, which persuades them to come to their own conclusion about slavery.

This quote from Douglass book clearly shows how Douglass was neglected as a human. Douglass uses very interesting syntax in the paragraph, as he alternates between eloquent sentences and short statements. He uses this device in his quote by interjecting that statement I had no bed. between two longer sentences. This abrupt change in pace creates an impact that resonates within those four simple words. The awkward change in the flow of the paragraph makes the reader stumble over those words, which in turn makes the emphasis more powerful when the reader actually realizes- he had no bed! That is one of the most basic and fundamental features of a humans well being- a bed! How dehumanizing is it that Douglass was deprived of such an item. Douglass also puts an emphasis on how little he did have, by using repetition to clearly communicate his message. Douglass states; I was kept almost nakedno shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing but a coarse tow linen shirt. The repetition of the word no stresses the absence of the basic things in his life. Douglass use of syntax and repetition accentuates how dehumanizing slavery really was.

Douglass intention in writing Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was to make an effective argument against slavery. He definitely accomplishes his goal, by using a contrasted tone to incite a logical response from the reader, and by using rhetorical writing strategies such as syntax and repetition to communicate the dehumanization of slavery.