Frederick Douglass
By: Tommy • Essay • 615 Words • January 29, 2010 • 1,080 Views
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The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and My Antonia were books that both had a strong tone. In each, the author's attitude and opinion came through whether the opinion was from the author himself, or the author's opinion was shown through, whether the opinion was from the author himself, or the author's opinion was shown through someone else. Frederick Douglass' tone was one of revulsion towards slavery, while Willa Cather's tone was one of respect, which was portrayed in her character, Jim Burden. Although the books each had a prevalent tone, throughout each novel there were also variations of the tone.
In The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, the overall tone that was portrayed was a strong revulsion for slavery and the cruel treatment of man. During the course of his life, Douglass, saw the effects of slavery on his fellow man and on the slaveholder. He was not only against slavery because it was cruel towards the slaves, but also because it adversely affected the lives of the masters. Douglass now saw how being a slaveholder could change a person completely. /it is reasonable to say that Douglass' other tone was a detached one because of the cruelty he saw from the slave holders. For example when Mrs. Auld killed a young slave girl for not moving fast enough to care for a crying child. For masters who relished the pain of their slaves. The sound of anguish would only draw harder whippings, therefore, it is easy to see why Fredrick Douglass did not react in a normal way to his mother's death. Unlike a normal person who is sad and grieves the death of a loved one Douglass shows no emotion because showing pain was a sign of showing weakness.
In the novel My Antonia the tone is one of respect and joy. The burden's family had a respect for the immigrants that came to the United States. They saw Antonia's family with Christian eyes and tried to help them start a good life. Jim showed respect for the immigrants because he saw that it was the right thing to do, and he also had a deep respect for the