Frederick Douglass Argues and Persuades

After reading this article, I learned the definitions and purposes of the Greek terms logos, pathos and ethos. With logos (argument by logic), ethos (argument by character), and pathos (argument by emotion), you can convince everyone you want. I never would've thought that persuasion had such a big study behind it, but it does and it most certainly works. At least it has been working while I read The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Many times we read or use logos, pathos and ethos without even noticing them and it was in Frederick Douglass's narrative that I was able to find some interesting examples. 

"His presence was painful; his eyes flashed confusion; and seldom was his sharp, shrill voice heard, without producing horror and trembling in their ranks." (Douglass, 36). Douglass's use of adjectives (painful, sharp, horror) emote the way Mr. Gore's presence affected people emotionally. That's why this is pathos.

Shrill: (adj.) (of a voice or sound)
High- pitched and piercing

When Douglass mentions parts of his life that have sentimental value to him or that directly affects his emotions, it is clear that he uses pathos. Douglass argues with emotion when he mentions that someone killed his wife's cousin. "The wife of Mr. Giles Hicks...murdered my wife's cousin, a young girl between fifteen and sixteen years of age...breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick." (Douglass, 37). He describes how inhumanely this girl was killed. To make it worse, it was someone that was part of his family. That has emotional value, and convinces us to believe him. The last example I came across with was: "...and in an instant poor Demby was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood." (Douglass, 36). This quote shows sympathy, which is exactly what pathos is all about. 

Quarrel: (noun) An angry
argument or disagreement.

The next form of rhetoric that I found was ethos. At the end of chapter three, Douglass narrates, "...It is not uncommon for slaves even to fall out and quarrel among themselves about the relative goodness of their masters, each contending for the superior goodness of his own over that of the others." (Douglass, 34). This is a perfect example of ethos since each of the slaves fights over the other one about whose master is better. It is argument by character: employs each of the persuaders's reputation. The other ethos example I found, plays with the persuader's reputation and personality: "I speak advisedly when I say this, - that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community." (Douglass, 37). Douglass had to say that he was advisedly speaking, for he wouldn't have made that opinion himself, probably because we know he was a black man and a slave. 

Utter: (verb) Say
something aloud.

Finally, I come to logos. To me, logos is the hardest form of rhetoric to find. It is all about logic, but it passes unnoticed to me. Approaching the end of chapter three, I found this: "I have been frequently asked, when a slave, if I had a kind master, and do not remember ever to have given a negative answer, nor did I, in pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false." (Douglass, 33). He says that whenever someone asked him if his master was a nice person, well he wouldn't respond negatively - I mean he was a slave, he HAD to watch out for what he said - but he also wouldn't lie completely. To me, this is something very logical, very obvious. If he were to say bad things about his master, he would probably get killed or sold. This is why I consider that quote as logos.

To me, pathos is the easiest form of rhetoric to find and use. I consider myself a very emotional person, and after I thought about it, I noticed that pathos is what best works for me when arguing. To close this entry, I'd like to link this youtube video of Mufasa's death in The Lion King simply because it utilizes pathos just like in Frederick Douglass's narrative.