Letteratura anglo-americana - Analysis of 'What to the slave is the fourth of July?' written by Douglass

Douglass: "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?"

Douglass [1818-1895][Oration]

Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies to convey his powerful emotions on the subject, and the end result is a very engaged point. Douglass begins by asking a series of rhetorical questions, not without the use of sarcasm. He refers to "the Declaration of Independence" instead of "the 7^th of July", to stress the separation between his people and those who aren't.

The sense of the passage of all these questions is to give the audience the perspective that what is suggested isn't truly so. Douglass uses the terms "you and me", "us" and "them" to stress the fact that this holiday had a double meaning, and for slaves it is only an amazing whole for the rest it is a day of barbecue joy.

Douglass makes a reference to the Bible; he cannot express for who his people express their pains, this holiday is a mockery for "us". Then he moves on to speak of the wrongs committed by America, he states that any just man who isn't prejudiced, shall see that his words are of truth. He suggests he argue about the slave being a man, that man be entitled to liberty, that it's wrong to make man "brutes", and finally, that slavery isn't divine. Freedom is the natural right of all men!

The 4 of July is a disrupting reminder for him and his people of the cruelty that America attempts to put a veil over. With this mockery, this speech is a calling for a change! Change is all that America has to hope for, and the horror of the past must not go on.

• Forget = dimenticare
• Forgive = perdonare
• Forbid = proibire