"Pen In The Gashes" Quote Reflection

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Lexia Cardis 11/3/11 AP English Ms. Polat Period 1 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 naked—no 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 doesn’t 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 factual’istic, 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

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