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Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Analysis

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Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Analysis
The Existentialists Richard Dawkins, Author of The God Illusion, said in his book, “There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.” This entire statement pertains to the characteristics of Existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible person determining their own life and development through acts of will. This philosophy has been shown in the books Tuesday’s with Morrie and the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass and the life story of Malala Yousafzai. The …show more content…
The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is written by Frederick about the struggle of slavery and how gaining free will assisted in the abolishment of this peculiar institution. Malala Yousafzai was not allowed to be educated by the Taliban in Pakistan and that is all that she wanted; Malala wrote a blog in order to invoke hope in the concept of education for women in Pakistan. These different forms of persuasive texts involve the emotional appeals of pathos, logos, and ethos in order to further persuade their audience towards the belief of existentialism and free will. The ideology of existentialism is exhibited and aided society in the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, Malala’s experiences, and Tuesday’s with Morrie by way of Malala’s fight towards education, Frederick Douglass’ fight for free will and freedom from slavery, and Morrie’s life story which …show more content…
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and whipped constantly just due to his personality because he was “awkward” at times. Douglass was able to pick himself up from the downs of slavery after being partially taught the alphabet by Mrs. Sophia Auld then thwarted from learning because of the legality of teaching slaves how to read and write. He was able to, by himself, learn how to read and write and become a voice for the revolt against slavery by using his oratory skills to persuade whites and blacks alike to abolish slavery once and for all. The idea of Douglass gaining free will from his enslavers and gaining meaning to his life by changing the lives of his own people that were bound to a lives of servitude and punishment is a fundamental ideal of existentialism. Frederick Douglass’ influence, through his oratories, assisted in the abolishment of slavery and created a new life in which African Americans could partake in and contribute new ideals, inventions, and culture into American life. An example of an African American rising through racism and becoming the first African American president of a country that once enslaved his people was Barack Obama. The philosophy of creating a meaning and taking responsibility for one’s
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