According to the Preface, what impresses William Lloyd Garrison about Frederick Douglas?
Garrison was impressed by Douglas' speech-making qualities against slavery and how he could arouse the crowd.Garrison also thought that Douglas was intelligent."Fortunate for the multitudes in various parts of our republic whose minds he has enlightened on the subject of slavery, and who have melted to tears by his pathos, or roused to virtuous indignation by his stirring eloquence against the enslavers of men." (P. 924) "There stood one, in physical proportion and stature commanding and exact--in intellect richly endowed--in natural eloquence a prodigy." (P. 924) He also thought Douglas was a very moral person. He is "....capable of high attainments as an intellectual and moral being." (P. 925) He considers Douglas a gentle and meek man. "As a public speaker, he excels in pathos, wit, comparison, imitation, strength of reasoning and fluency of language." (P. 926) "He has born himself with a gentleness and meekness, yet with true manliness of character." (P. 926) Garrison is impressed that Douglas writes his own speeches. "Mr Douglas has very properly chosen to write his own narrative, in his own styles and according to the best of his ability, rather than to employ someone else." (P. 926) Garrison admires Douglas because he escaped from his slave-owner, even though Douglas knew he would be severely punished or even killed if he was caught and the fact that Douglas is willing to make speeches in public against slavery even with the threat of getting sent back to his slave-owner. Douglas even gave where he was born, those who owned him, and those who committed crimes against him to show what happened to him was true. "Mr. Douglas has frankly disclosed the place of his birth, the names of those who claimed ownership of his body and soul, and the names of those who committed crimes which he has alleged against them. His statements, therefore, may easily be disproved, if they are untrue." (P. 928) You can tell that Garrison respects Douglas by always referring to him as "Mr. Douglas".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like that you point out that Garrison refers to Frederick Douglas as “Mr. Douglas.” These are all very good points. The entire preface to Douglas’s Narrative was littered with compliments by Garrison. It was very easy to determine how impressed he was by his courage, intelligence and his ability to deliver a speech. I have to agree with Garrison in saying that Douglas did monumental work with so many odds against him. For a man of his time, Douglas was very determined to learn to read and write and to make something of his life. I felt like he was destined for greatness.
ReplyDelete