Frederick Douglass does not understand why he was asked to speak on a day that is centered about white people’s national independence. Douglass feels quite strongly that the Fourth of July means nothing to the black, and everything to the white. “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.” (Frederick Douglass) For whites, the Fourth of July is a celebration. Douglass continues on to say “The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, ahs brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” For him, this day is seen the day the blacks remember American slavery and all the injustices they were faced with.
Douglass supports his feelings by appealing to logos, pathos, and ethos. Douglass obviously appeals to ethos because he is a black himself. He personally feels this way; he isn’t looking from the outside in. When he appeals to logos in “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”, he explains his reasons as to why he doesn’t believe he is the right person to make this speech .It is clear Douglass is addressing and appealing to pathos the most by how he points out his audience as “you”. He is asking white people why he was called upon to speak and why he has to do with independence. He appeals to pathos by saying things “with all the emphasis I can command…” (Frederick Douglass) He exposes how a slave feels and explains the Fourth of July from a slave’s point of view by reciting a poem. Douglass speech focusing on emotions and I think he succeeds in persuading his audience, white people, to question why he was chosen to speak about an event that has nothing to do with him.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A new point of view...
Posted by Lauren at 5:55 AM
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2 comments:
Dear LoLo,
I think this is a very strong piece and your uses of support from the actual article we read were fantastic. When you talked about appealing to pathos, ethos and logos you were kinda brief but succinct and to the point which I commend you on. I do agree with you that the most emphasized of the three was pathos in that he really played upon his audience, being basically the entire Nation, to tell them his feelings, which is where ethos comes in.
Douglas was asked to speak on the Fourth of July probably by a bunch of white people to be commended as idealists when the reality of the situation was he wanted nothing to do with praising this newfound opportunity but he rather wanted not to be associated with the situation because it shouldnt have happened in the first place.
Anyways, great piece, good job!
Hey Lauren. First off, let me say that this was a good assessment of the rhetorical devices used in his writing, and your use of the quote only makes your viewpoint all the more convincing. From the consumer's point of view, i would say that you very adequately cover all the points that were to be covered. However, I can't help but think that maybe Douglass' argument is a little one-sided and maybe over-simplified in that he is more driving the point home about how the 4th of July really did nothing for blacks. On the contrary, while immediately nothing may have happened, I have to think that this was one of the events that would later on lead to the gradual improvement of the black situation. What do you think?
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