“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”

Literary Analysis of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”
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The formation of the current society not only in the colored community but also in the whole world derived most of its significance from slavery and the era of slavery in the United States. Most of the slaves were black people from Africa who were being forced to provide labor for the white people up until the 18th Century when certain individuals stood on thought as leaders with the objective of educating the people on the significance of freedom and human rights. Frederick Douglas, author of What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey to Harriet Bailey, an African American slave woman and a white man. Being one of the slaves, Frederick Douglas, after being urged by the people to lead an anti-slavery tour, gave a speech that came to be famously known as “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, where he states that although the date is viewed as the day when the country celebrates its independence, the notion is not entirely the same to the slaves. He states that this is because “It provoked rancorous debate over how the nation’s founding should be celebrated, over what exactly was being celebrated, and even over whether celebration was merited at all.” (Pyle, 2016) Frederick uses the literary symbols of logos, ethos and pathos in his speech to represent his legal position on the topic of slavery and its abolition in the United States.
Firstly, Frederick Douglas employs the literary device of logic focus in his speech when he refers to the Bible to relate the importance of freedom and the evil of slavery as well as support his thoughts on the abolition of slavery (Baker, 2017). In addition, giving his speech at the Ladies Anti-slavery society, in a neighborhood bred with the word of God, meant that the whole population was essentially conversant with the background story revolving around his speech. Moreover, he was aware of the effects of feeding his audience with an extensive history of slavery as it would not only increase hatred in the nation but also pain the people more than they already were. Therefore, he chose to use logos with an incorporation of kindness and humility to explain to the people of what they were being put through by the white people, what was going to happen if they continued being slaves and with a reasoned argument of why slavery should be abolished as well the importance and benefits of freedom.
There are other rhetorical strategies related to the mentioned literary devices that Fred...