How Frederick Douglass Communicates About Slavery to White Readers

The way Frederick Douglass writes in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of an American Slave, is largely influenced by the fact that he is writing mainly for a white readership, and not only of abolitionists, but also of those who do have to be persuaded of the evil of slavery and the intelligence and humanity of blacks. If he were writing for a black audience, it might not be necessary for him to prove the evil of slavery at all; he could begin by assuming the evil of slavery as his and his readers' shared premise, and go on from there, probably to discuss how best to bring about its abolition; which would make it a very different book. Since Douglass is writing for a white readership, he writes in such a way that the reader doesn't know when he is leading into an argument until he is making it.

Much of what he writes is in refutation, directly or by example, of the views and arguments of the advocates of slavery. For example, advocates of slavery would often point out that slaves themselves often praised the kindness of their masters. Douglass refutes this first by example: He segues from the wealth of Colonel Lloyd, to the number of Col. Lloyd's slaves, to the fact that because of this great number, Col. Lloyd did not recognize one of his won slaves when he met him on the road, and the slave, not knowing he was talking to his master, answered Col. Lloyd's questions honestly, telling him that he was mistreated, and in consequence was separated from his family and sold into Georgia. (p. 1946-47) Douglass then goes from the specific incident to the general situation, refuting the slavery-advocates' argument by explanation--"The frequency of [the spies on behalf of the masters] has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head." Douglass makes the explanation stronger and more convincing by putting the example that proves it before it, and gets past at least some of his readers' intellectual "defenses" by segueing into the subject of why slaves praise their masters without showing his readers where he's going until he's there.