Tuesday, May 14, 2013

What are two examples in the text where Douglass is exaggerating or self-glorifying?

To add to the point in the above post about Douglass's
purpose to inspire people against the nature of slavery, Douglass also uses exaggerated
moments to influence his audience.  For example, while in Baltimore, Douglass claims
that he makes a grand apostrophe to the passing ships in the harbor.  In the apostrophe,
he says that he cried out to the ships asking why they were free while he was kept in
bondage.  The apostrophe is quite emotional and breaks the more objective tone developed
previously in the narrative.  One assumes that Douglass did not actually orally address
the passing ships in the harbor--surely a slave seen engaging in such behavior would be
cause for the authorities to inflict punishment; however, Douglass may very well have
had these thoughts and simply presented them in such an exaggerated manner to influence
his reading audience.

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