21Izzy Fujiwara

Aaker

AP English Language & Composition

3 October 2019

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

In the appendix of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he

contends that slaveholders are not genuine Christians as the malevolence of their job contradicts

the principles of Christianity. Douglass thoroughly conveys his argument by using contrasting

personification to characterize the vast difference between genuine Christianity and the mutilated

Christianity practiced by slaveholders, appealing to pathos to empathetically provoke

commiseration through the inclusion of personal and systematic atrocities inflicted by

slaveholders claiming to be Christians, and symbolism to interpret the lack of integrity in

claiming to be a Christian while participating in the selfishly sinful act of slaveholding. Douglass

includes this excerpt in his narrative to express his hatred for Christianity practiced by

slaveholders to justify his stance on religion as a Christian. He uses a transparent, ironic tone to

inform his audience about the inhumanely destructive nature of slaveholding that discredits their

alleged Christian identity.

Douglass introduces his argument by using distinct personification to differentiate the

two forms of religion, genuine Christianity and the fabricated Christianity practiced by

slaveholders. He presents his viewpoint when he asserts, “I love the pure, peaceable, and

impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping,

cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity.” By using humanistic traits and actions
to characterize religion, he presents two notably different types of religion. While characterizing

the Christianity of Christ to be hospitable and innocent, Douglass uses the graphically unethical

actions of slaveholders to personify the ingenuine Christianity found in their communities. By

expressing opposing emotions for the two forms of religion, he argues that the injurious actions

of slaveholders are inexcusable toxic to the extent of defining the identity of their religion.

Through this distinction, he effectively specifies that his resentment pertains to slaveholders and

their uncivilized actions, not Christianity as a religion.

To further the audience’s comprehension of the cruel, unethical treatment slaveholders

impose, Douglass appeals to pathos by including personal and situational atrocities slaveholders

inflict to stimulate empathetic consideration from the audience. He describes the derogatory,

personal damaged a slaveholder serving as a religious leader inflicts by recounting, “He who

sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity.”

Generally, the emotional attachment people have to their siblings possesses irreplicable value to

the extent that many people voluntarily establish the wellbeing and safety of their siblings a

primary priority in their life. Empathetically, the audience is inclined to feel an immense sense of

hatred toward the slaveholders for sexually exploiting Douglass’s sister through the

dehumanizing industry of prostitution. Further frustration can arise from members of the

audience that personally follow Christianity as prostitution dishonors the Christian belief that

sexual relations are intended to be reserved for married couples and foster a sense of intimacy. In

addition to mentioning a traumatic personal experience, Douglass includes a generalized

situation regarding familial destruction forced upon slaves by slaveholders when he narrates that

religious representatives in slaveholding communities “scatter[s] whole families— sundering

husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,—leaving the hut vacant, and the

hearth desolate.” Douglass includes a variety of the most critical familial relationships to

thoroughly interpret the extent of the social deprivation slaves endured. While families are

intended to a fundamental source of support and comfort for humanity, slaveholders are

disregarding this essential aspect of humanity's social relations by obstructing the familial bond

between their slaves. Naturally, this separation exposes slaves to unfathomable vulnerability and

emotional devastation. Considering the sociological necessity of family, the inclusion of this

detrimental consequence of slavery will likely intensify the audience’s understanding of the

apathetically invasive structure of slaveholding. By disclosing these crucial aspects of slavery,

emotional rationalization will reveal the evident lack of morality possessed by slaveholders.

To emphasize the underlying superficiality of religion in communities that

simultaneously participate, Douglass ironically uses symbolism to illustrate the corrupt,

deceptive nature surrounding their religious practice. He portrays the demoralized environment

of slaveholding communities by stating, “The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell

chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the

religious shouts of his pious master.” While Christian church bells traditionally hold sacred value

and call worshippers to the church for religious services and prayers, Douglass symbolically

references the church bells in slaveholding communities to possess an opposing purpose by

describing the bells to work in unison with those of a slave auction. In contrast to the

significance of bells in Christian churches, the ringing of a bell declares an accepted offer on a

slave at slave auctions. The act of selling a human being into slavery displays an irrational,

racially-biased assertion of superiority by the slaveholders and heartlessly restricts the life of a
human to be a method of conducting forced manual labor and source of profit. Concurrent with

the industry’s unjust structure, slave trading blatantly commits two of Christianity’s seven deadly

sins, greed and pride. Considering the barbarous intention of slave auction bells, the validity of

the coexisting church bells is thoroughly eroded. In addition to the environmental incongruity,

Douglass symbolically manifests the impostures relationship between business, religion in

slaveholding communities by revealing, “The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the

pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity.”

Douglass describes the slaveholders gold as blood-stained to represent the abusive method of

acquiring profit in the slaveholding industry. With wrongfully earned salary, the slaveholder

funds the practice of religion intending to utilize the Christian identity to improve his public

image. By representing the church through a pulpit and distinctive apparel, Douglass infers that

the slaveholder enjoys a position of religious leadership as a pulpit is the platform from which

preachers lead religious receptions and garbs pertain solely to the attire of clergymen. While the

religious affiliations of a slaveholder may allow them to appear as a Christian, it is merely a

facade strategically masking egocentric, racist morality and tendencies.

Douglass dedicates the appendix of his narrative to justifying his attitude towards religion

by acknowledging the division between fraudulent Christianity practiced by slaveholders and

authentic Christianity he admires. While he practices Christianity, he deems his faith to explicitly

exclude the counterfeit Christianity practiced in regions that accept slavery as a valid method of

labor and profit. He invalidates the alleged ability to simultaneously practicing slaveholding and

Christianity by depicting slavery to be the antithesis of Christianity by introducing the two forms

of religion with opposing characteristics. He elaborates upon his argument by utilizing the
emotional strain induced by slaveholders to appeal to pathos. In addition to the emotional aspect

of the slaveholders' unjust morality, he symbolically illuminates the deceptive relationship

between slaveholding and religion that pollutes their practice of religion with sinful misconduct.

Considering Douglass has first-hand insight on the practice of slavery, he can present the

audience with the insight necessary to convincingly justify his opposition to the form of religion

practiced by slaveholders.