Definitions and Interpretations of Rhetorical Irony

To say one thing but to mean something else — that may be the simplest definition of irony. But in truth, theres nothing at all simple about the rhetorical concept of irony. As J.A. Cuddon says in A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (Basil Blackwell, 1979), irony eludes definition, and this elusiveness is one of the main reasons why it is a source of so much fascinated inquiry and speculation. To encourage further inquiry (rather than reduce this complex trope to simplistic explanations), weve gathered a variety of definitions and interpretations of irony, both ancient and modern. Here youll find some recurrent themes as well as some points of disagreement. Does any one of these writers provide the single right answer to our question? No. But all provide food for thought. We begin on this page with some broad observations about the nature of irony — a few standard definitions along with attempts to classify the different types of irony. On page two, we offer a brief survey of the ways that the concept of irony has evolved over the past 2,500 years. Finally, on pages three and four, a number of contemporary writers discuss what irony means (or seems to mean) in our own time. Definitions and Types of Irony The Three Basic Features of IronyThe principal obstacle in the way of a simple definition of irony is the fact that irony is not a simple phenomenon. . . . We have now presented, as basic features for all irony,(i) a contrast of appearance and reality,(ii) a confident unawareness (pretended in the ironist, real in the victim of the irony) that the appearance is only an appearance, and(iii) the comic effect of this unawareness of a contrasting appearance and reality.(Douglas Colin Muecke, Irony, Methuen Publishing, 1970)Five Kinds of IronyThree kinds of irony have been recognized since antiquity: (1) Socratic irony. a mask of innocence and ignorance adopted to win an argument. . . . (2) Dramatic or tragic irony, a double vision of what is happening in a play or real-life situation. . . . (3) Linguistic irony, a duality of meaning, now the classic form of irony. Building on the idea of dramatic irony, the Romans concluded that language often carries a double message, a second often moc king or sardonic meaning running contrary to the first. . . .In modern times, two further conceptions have been added: (1) Structural irony, a quality that is built into texts, in which the observations of a naive narrator point up deeper implications of a situation. . . . (2) Romantic irony, in which writers conspire with readers to share the double vision of what is happening in the plot of a novel, film, etc.(Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press, 1992)Applying IronyIronys general characteristic is to make something understood by expressing its opposite. We can therefore isolate three separate ways of applying this rhetorical form. Irony can refer to (1) individual figures of speech (ironia verbi); (2) particular ways of interpreting life (ironia vitae); and (3) existence in its entirety (ironia entis). The three dimensions of irony--trope, figure, and universal paradigm--can be understood as rhetorical, existential, and ontological.( Peter L. Oesterreich, Irony, in Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, edited by Thomas O. Sloane, Oxford University Press, 2001)Metaphors for IronyIrony is an insult conveyed in the form of a compliment, insinuating the most galling satire under the phraseology of panegyric; placing its victim naked on a bed of briars and thistles, thinly covered with rose leaves; adorning his brow with a crown of gold, which burns into his brain; teasing, and fretting, and riddling him through and through with incessant discharges of hot shot from a masked battery; laying bare the most sensitive and shrinking nerves of his mind, and then blandly touching them with ice, or smilingly pricking them with needles.(James Hogg, Wit and Humour, in Hoggs Instructor, 1850)Irony SarcasmIrony must not be confused with sarcasm, which is direct: Sarcasm means precisely what it says, but in a sharp, bitter, cutting, caustic, or acerb manner; it is the instrument of indignation, a weapon of offense, whereas irony is one of t he vehicles of wit.(Eric Partridge and Janet Whitcut, Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English, W.W. Norton Company, 1997)Irony, Sarcasm, WitGeorge Puttenhams Arte of English Poesie shows appreciation for subtle rhetorical irony by translating ironia as Drie Mock. I tried to find out what irony really is, and discovered that some ancient writer on poetry had spoken of ironia, which we call the drye mock, and I cannot think of a better term for it: the drye mock. Not sarcasm, which is like vinegar, or cynicism, which is often the voice of disappointed idealism, but a delicate casting of a cool and illuminating light on life, and thus an enlargement. The ironist is not bitter, he does not seek to undercut everything that seems worthy or serious, he scorns the cheap scoring-off of the wisecracker. He stands, so to speak, somewhat at one side, observes and speaks with a moderation which is occasionally embellished with a flash of controlled exaggeration. He speaks from a certain dep th, and thus he is not of the same nature as the wit, who so often speaks from the tongue and no deeper. The wits desire is to be funny, the ironist is only funny as a secondary achievement.(Roberston Davies, The Cunning Man, Viking, 1995)Cosmic IronyThere are two broad uses in everyday parlance. The first relates to cosmic irony and has little to do with the play of language or figural speech. . . . This is an irony of situation, or an irony of existence; it is as though human life and its understanding of the world is undercut by some other meaning or design beyond our powers. . . . The word irony refers to the limits of human meaning; we do not see the effects of what we do, the outcomes of our actions, or the forces that exceed our choices. Such irony is cosmic irony, or the irony of fate.(Claire Colebrook, Irony: The New Critical Idiom, Routledge, 2004) A Survey of Irony Socrates, That Old FoxThe most influential model in the history of irony has been the Platonic Socrates. Neither Socrates nor his contemporaries, however, would have associated the word  eironeia  with modern conceptions of Socratic irony. As Cicero put it, Socrates was always pretending to need information and professing admiration for the wisdom of his companion; when Socrates interlocutors were annoyed with him for behaving in this way they called him  eiron, a vulgar term of reproach referring generally to any kind of sly deception with overtones of mockery. The fox was the symbol of the  eiron.All serious discussions of  eironeia  followed upon the association of the word with Socrates.(Norman D. Knox, Irony,  The Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 2003)The Western SensibilitySome go so far as to say that Socrates ironic personality inaugurated a peculiarly Western sensibility. His irony, or his capacity  not  to accept everyday values and concepts but live in a state of  perpetual  question, is the birth of philosophy, ethics, and consciousness.(Claire Colebrook,  Irony: The New Critical Idiom, Routledge, 2004)Skeptics and AcademicsIt is not without cause that so many excellent philosophers became Skeptics and Academics, and denied any certainty of knowledge or comprehension, and held opinions that the knowledge of man extended only to appearances and probabilities. It is true that in Socrates it was supposed to be but a form of irony,  Scientiam  dissimulando  simulavit, for he used to dissemble his knowledge, to the end to enhance his knowledge.(Francis Bacon,  The Advancement of Learning, 1605)From Socrates to CiceroSocratic irony, as it is constructed in Platos dialogues,  is therefore  a method of mocking and unmasking the presumed knowledge of his interlocutors, consequently leading them to  truth  (Socratic  maieutics). Cicero establishes irony as a rhetoric figure which blames by praise and praises by bla me. Apart from this, there is the sense of tragic (or dramatic) irony, which focuses on the contrast between the protagonists ignorance and the spectators, who are aware of his fatal destiny (as for example in  Oedipus Rex).(Irony, in  Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters, edited by Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen, Rodopi, 2007)Quintilian OnwardsSome of the rhetoricians recognize, though almost as if in passing, that irony was much more than an ordinary rhetorical figure. Quintilian says [in  Institutio Oratoria, translated by H.E. Butler] that in the  figurative  form of irony the speaker disguises his entire meaning, the disguise being apparent rather than confessed. . . .But having touched on this borderline where irony ceases to be instrumental and is sought as an end in itself, Quintilian draws back, quite properly for his purposes, to his functional view, and in effect carries nearly two millennia worth of rhetorici ans along with him. It was not until well into the eighteenth century that theorists were forced, by explosive developments in the use of irony itself, to begin thinking about ironic effects as somehow self-sufficient literary ends. And then of course irony burst its bounds so effectively that men finally dismissed merely functional ironies as not even ironic, or as self-evidently less artistic.(Wayne C. Booth,  A Rhetoric of Irony, University of Chicago Press, 1974)Cosmic Irony RevisitedIn  The Concept of Irony  (1841), Kierkegaard elaborated the idea that irony is a mode of seeing things, a way of viewing existence. Later, Amiel in his  Journal Intime  (1883-87) expressed the view that irony springs from a perception of the absurdity of life. . . .Many writers have distanced themselves to a vantage point, a quasi-godlike eminence, the better to be able to view things. The artist becomes a kind of god viewing creation (and viewing his own creation) with a smile. From this it is a short step to the idea that God himself is the supreme  ironist, watching the antics of human beings (Flaubert referred to a blague supà ©rieure) with a detached, ironical smile. The spectator in the  theatre  is in a similar position. Thus the everlasting human condition is regarded as potentially absurd.(J.A. Cuddon, Irony,  A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, Basil Blackwell, 1979)Irony in Our TimeI am saying that there seems to be one dominating form of modern understanding; that it is essentially ironic; and that it originates largely in the application of mind and memory to the events of the Great War [World War I].(Paul Fussell,  The Great War and Modern Memory, Oxford University Press, 1975)Supreme IronyWith supreme irony, the war to make the world safe for democracy [World War I] ended by leaving democracy more unsafe in the world than at any time since the collapse of the revolutions of 1848.(James Harvey Robinson,  The Human Comedy, 1 937) Contemporary Observations on Irony The New IronyThe one truth the new irony has to tell us is that the man who uses it has no place to stand except in momentary community with those who seek to express a comparable alienation from other groups. The one conviction it expresses is that there are really no sides left: No virtue to oppose to corruption, no wisdom to oppose to  cant. The one standard it accepts is that on which the simple man--the untutored non-ironist who fancies (in his dolt-hood) that he knows what good and bad should mean--is registered as the zero of our world, a cipher worth nothing but uninterrupted contempt.(Benjamin DeMott, The New Irony:  Sidesnicks  and Others,  The American Scholar, 31, 1961-1962)Swift, Simpson, Seinfeld . . . and Quotation Marks[T]echnically,  irony  is a rhetorical device used to convey a meaning sharply different from or even opposite of the  literal  text. It’s not just saying one thing while meaning another--that’s what Bill Clinton does. No, it’s more like a wink or running joke among people in the know.Jonathan Swift’s  A Modest Proposal  is a classic text in the history of irony. Swift argued that English lords should eat the children of the poor to alleviate hunger. There is nothing in the text which says, hey, this is sarcasm. Swift lays out a pretty good argument and it’s up to the reader to figure it out that he’s not really serious. When Homer Simpson says to Marge, Now who’s being naà ¯ve? the writers are winking at all those people who love  The Godfather  (these people are commonly referred to as men). When George Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld keep saying Not that there’s anything wrong with that! every time they mention homosexuality, they are making an ironic joke about the culture’s insistence that we affirm our non-judgmentalism.Anyway,  irony  is one of those words that most people understand intuitively but have a hard time defining. One good te st is if you like to put quotation marks around words that shouldn’t have them. The quotation marks are necessary because the words have lost most of their literal meaning to the  new  politicized interpretations.(Jonah Goldberg, The Irony of Irony.  National Review Online, April 28, 1999)Irony and EthosSpecifically rhetorical irony presents few problems. Puttenhams drie  mock pretty well describes the phenomenon. One kind of rhetorical irony, however, may need further attention. There can be relatively few rhetorical situations where the target of persuasion is utterly ignorant of the designs someone has on him--the relationship of  persuader  and persuaded is almost always self-conscious to some degree. If the persuader wants to overcome any implicit sales resistance (especially from a sophisticated audience), one of the ways he will do it is to acknowledge that he  is  trying to talk his audience into something. By this, he hopes to gain their trust for as long as the soft sell takes. When he does this, he really acknowledges that his rhetorical maneuvering is ironical, that it says one thing while it tries to do another. At the same time, a second irony is present, since the pitchman is still far from laying all his cards on the table. The point to be made is that every rhetorical posture except the most naive involves an ironical coloration, of some kind or another, of the speakers  ethos.(Richard Lanham,  A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 2nd edition, University of California Press, 1991)The End of the Age of Irony?One good thing could come from this horror: it could spell the end of the age of irony. For some 30 years--roughly as long as the Twin Towers were upright--the good folks in charge of Americas intellectual life have insisted that nothing was to be believed in or taken seriously. Nothing was real. With a giggle and a smirk, our chattering classes--our columnists and pop culture makers--declared that detachment and perso nal whimsy were the necessary tools for an oh-so-cool life. Who but a slobbering bumpkin would think, I feel your pain? The ironists, seeing through everything, made it difficult for anyone to see anything. The consequence of thinking that nothing is real--apart from prancing around in an air of vain stupidity--is that one will not know the difference between a joke and a menace.No more. The planes that plowed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were real. The flames, smoke, sirens--real. The chalky landscape, the silence of the streets--all real. I feel your pain--really.(Roger Rosenblatt,  The Age Of Irony Comes to an End,  Time  magazine, September 16, 2001)Eight Misconceptions About IronyWe have a grave problem with this word (well, in fact, its not really grave--but Im not being ironic when I call it that, Im being  hyperbolic. Though often the two amount to the same thing. But not always). Just looking at the definitions, the confusion is understandable--in th e first instance, rhetorical irony expands to cover any disjunction at all between language and meaning, with a couple of key exceptions (allegory  also entails a disconnection between sign and meaning, but obviously isnt synonymous with irony; and lying, clearly, leaves that gap, but relies for its efficacy on an ignorant audience, where irony relies on a knowing one). Still, even with the riders, its quite an umbrella, no?In the second instance,  situational irony  (also known as cosmic irony) occurs when it seems that God or fate is manipulating events so as to inspire false hopes, which are inevitably dashed (1). While this looks like the more straightforward usage, it opens the door to confusion between irony, bad  luck  and inconvenience.Most pressingly, though, there are a number of misconceptions about  irony  that are peculiar to recent times. The first is that September 11 spelled the end of irony. The second is that the end of irony would be the one good thi ng to come out of September 11. The third is that irony characterizes our age to a greater degree than it has done any other. The fourth is that Americans cant do irony, and we [the British] can. The fifth is that the Germans cant do irony, either (and we still can). The sixth is that irony and cynicism are interchangeable. The seventh is that its a mistake to attempt irony in emails and text messages, even while irony characterizes our age, and so do emails. And the eighth is that post-ironic is an acceptable term--it is very modish to use this, as if to suggest one of three things: i) that irony has ended; ii) that postmodernism and irony are interchangeable, and can be conflated into one handy word; or iii) that we are more ironic than we used to be, and therefore need to add a prefix suggesting even greater ironic distance than irony on its own can supply. None of these things is true.1. Jack Lynch, Literary Terms. I would strongly urge you not to read any more footnotes, they a re only here to make sure I dont get in trouble for plagiarizing.(Zoe Williams,  The Final Irony,  The Guardian, June 28, 2003)Postmodern IronyPostmodern  irony is allusive, multilayered, preemptive, cynical, and above all, nihilistic. It assumes that everything is subjective and nothing means what it says. Its a sneering, world-weary,  bad  irony, a mentality that condemns before it can be condemned, preferring cleverness to sincerity and quotation to originality. Postmodern irony rejects  tradition,  but offers nothing in its place.(Jon Winokur,  The Big Book of Irony, St. Martins Press, 2007)Were All in This Together--by OurselvesImportantly, the Romantic of today finds a real connection, a sense of groundedness, with others  through  irony. with those who understand what is meant without having to say it, with those who also question the saccharine quality of contemporary American culture, who are certain that all diatribes of virtue-lament will turn out to h ave been made by some gambling, lying, hypocritical talk-show host/senator overly fond of interns/pages. This they see as doing an injustice to the depth of human possibility and the complexity and goodness of human feeling, to the power of the imagination over all forms of potential constraint, to a basic ethics that they themselves are proud to uphold. But ironists, above all else, are certain that we must live in this world as best we can, whether or not it suits our own moral outlook, writes Charles Taylor [The Ethics of Authenticity, Harvard University Press, 1991]. The only alternative seems to be a kind of inner exile. Ironic detachment is exactly this sort of inner exile--an  inner emigration--maintained with humor, chic bitterness, and a sometimes embarrassing but abidingly persistent hope.(R. Jay Magill Jr.,  Chic Ironic Bitterness, The University of Michigan Press, 2007)Whats Ironic?Woman: I started riding these trains in the forties. Those days a man would give up th eir seat for a woman. Now were liberated and we have to stand.Elaine: Its ironic.Woman: Whats ironic?Elaine: This, that weve come all this way, we have made all this progress, but you know, weve lost the little things, the niceties.Woman: No, I mean what does ironic mean?(Seinfeld)

Report On Alexander The Great Essay - 1834 Words

Alexander the Great was one of the greatest ruler’s and conquerors of all time. He conquered the mighty Persian Empire and most of the known world at that time. Alexander was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. He was the son of an excellent general and organizer, named Philip II King of Macedon. His mother was Olympias, princess of Epirus. She was brilliant and hot-tempered. Alexander inherited the best qualities of both his parents. But he was even more ambitious than his father. He wept bitterly when he heard of Philips conquests and said, quot; My father will get ahead of me in everything, and will leave nothing great for me to do.quot; Alexanders mother taught him that Achilles was his ancestor, and that his father†¦show more content†¦Aristotle also inspired in Alexander a keen interest in other countries and races of people, and in animals and plants. Alexanders education was not all from books. He talked with ambassadors from many foreign countries, and with other noted persons at his fathers court. When he was only 18, he commanded part of Philips cavalry at the battle of Chaeronea. Alexander also acted as his fathers ambassador to Athens. In 336 B.C. Phillip II was assassinated, and at the age of twenty Alex ascended to the Macedonian throne. As soon as he received that position he found that there were many people plotting against him. So he disposed of the conspirators quickly by execution. Then he descended on Thessaly and restored Macedonian rule. Before the end of the year 336 Alex reestablished his position in Greece. He was also elected to the congress of states at Corinth. In 335 as general of the Greeks he carried out a successful campaign against the Persians, penetrating to the Danube River. On the way back Alex crushed the Illyrians in a single week. 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Depression and Disability Retirement †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Depression and Disability Retirement. Answer: Introduction: There are many changes in lifestyle which the elderly population faces after retirement management. They enjoy ample time to enjoy without work. As they get retired they have no work to do baseless of the fact they want this change or not. After retirement they join a group of retired people who does not get any value from other parts of society. Some elderly people takes this retirement as an opportunity to get involved in hobbies or do some extra courses of study or travel and get involved with some NGO (Stenholm et al. 2016). The retired people are divided in two groups. One group will take this retirement period as enjoyment because they have previously planned for their retirement and have no money related problem. They even have friends and family to spend time with. Other type of group involves those who did not plan for their retirement and have no money to spend in this period. They have no work to get involved and no social life to get involved. They then start missing their working days (Damman 2015) These changes some time affect the psychological well being of retired people. They may feel that their children will not take care of them as they are retired and are getting burden in family. Some retired people do not want to stay with their children and want to lead an independent life till possible. Some may stay away in their own house away from their child so that they are not dependent on them (Zantinge et al. 2014). The relationship between the adult children and the elderly depends on the health condition and their choice of interest if matches. But the relationship hampers according to study if the elder suffer from some disease or mismatch of interests happen. The older people having good friend circle can spend ample time with them (Grotz et al. 2016). Older people may have some problem related to the fear of loss of intelligence management. The people getting old will start losing their ability to grasp things; they will become a slow learner. They will start losing their memory power which will give difficulty in their social life. They will stop using the power of imagination and will work according to their experience of past. They will experience short term memory loss and they will have problem in recovering new names of people or places (Dufouil et al. 2014) To increase their memory problem and general intelligence they need to get involved in certain activities. They have to develop hobbies which help in their time pass. They can learn some study related to computers which will help them to learn new thing and help them with doing normal work which they could have easily done in young age. They can do some reading activity to learn new things. To improve memory and reasoning ability they can solve puzzles riddles and crosswords (McDonald et al. 2015). Major depression is the clinical manifestation of the mental disorder that can be symbolized by the characteristic low mood and lack of self-esteem, lack of interest in daily life, lack of energy, and a sense of pain and despair without any reason or provocation (Dufouil et al. 2014). Studies suggest that 60% of the total suicides occurring per year are due to major depression. Major depression affects both the personal and the professional life of the victim and based on the chronic impact of this mental disorder on the wellbeing and functionality of the victim suffer8ing through it, the disease is called true depression or clinical depression; individuals suffering from this kind of depression find themselves in need for therapeutic treatment (Paunio et al. 2015). The symptoms for major or clinical depression include: Abnormal sleep patterns, insomnia in extreme cases. Abnormally increased loss interest and pleasure in life (Paunio et al. 2015) Extreme irritability and agitation Extreme fatigue and lack of energy (Hyde et al. 2015) Unjustified aggressiveness and violence without any possible provocative trigger. Random bouts of panic attacks, and suicidal or self harming tendencies (Dufouil et al. 2014) The causes of depression are not known clinically but some theories are found which explains its causes. It is said that it is due to change in chemistry of brain. Depression can also be caused by hormonal change some stress related to their life or some grief related to family condition. Genetics can also be causing factor of depression. It is not gender specific and can affect both men and women of all ages. The effect of depression in case of elderly is severe if this happens along with some illness like diabetes stroke or any heart related diseases. Early retirement also causes depression in elderly. In this case the elderly are treated for the disease but the depression remains untreated. Thus the disease gets treated living behind the depression management. But if diagnosed early then this depression can be treated easily (Hyde et al. 2015). Some other symptoms of depression are sadness, guilt or aggressiveness. Problem in concentrating on things or problem in decision making. The depressed people feel problem like loss of energy, weight loss or gain and they experience changes in sleeping pattern and also problem in their sexual life (Paunio et al. 2015). Weakness in body, back pain or constipation is some more symptoms. References: Damman, M., Henkens, K. and Kalmijn, M., 2015. Missing work after retirement: The role of life histories in the retirement adjustment process.The Gerontologist,55(5), pp.802-813. Dufouil, C., Pereira, E., Chne, G., Glymour, M.M., Alprovitch, A., Saubusse, E., Risse-Fleury, M., Heuls, B., Salord, J.C., Brieu, M.A. and Forette, F., 2014. Older age at retirement is associated with decreased risk of dementia.European journal of epidemiology,29(5), pp.353-361. Grotz, C., Meillon, C., Amieva, H., Stern, Y., Dartigues, J.F., Adam, S. and Letenneur, L., 2016. Why is later age at retirement beneficial for cognition? Results from a French population-based study.The journal of nutrition, health aging,20(5), pp.514-519. Hyde, M., Hanson, L.M., Chungkham, H.S., Leineweber, C. and Westerlund, H., 2015. The impact of involuntary exit from employment in later life on the risk of major depression and being prescribed anti-depressant medication.Aging mental health,19(5), pp.381-389. McDonald, S., OBrien, N., White, M. and Sniehotta, F.F., 2015. Changes in physical activity during the retirement transition management: a theory-based, qualitative interview study.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,12(1), p.25. Paunio, T., Korhonen, T., Hublin, C., Partinen, M., Koskenvuo, K., Koskenvuo, M. and Kaprio, J., 2015. Poor sleep predicts symptoms of depression and disability retirement due to depression.Journal of affective disorders,172, pp.381-389. Stenholm, S., Pulakka, A., Kawachi, I., Oksanen, T., Halonen, J.I., Aalto, V., Kivimki, M. and Vahtera, J., 2016. Changes in physical activity during transition to retirement: a cohort study.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,13(1), p.51. Zantinge, E.M., van den Berg, M., Smit, H.A. and Picavet, H.S.J., 2014. Retirement and a healthy lifestyle: opportunity or pitfall? A narrative review of the literature.The European Journal of Public Health,24(3), pp.433-439.

Narrative of Fredrick Douglas Essay Example

Narrative of Fredrick Douglas Essay Prompt: Douglass maintains that slavery dehumanized both the slave and the slaveholder. Quoting specific passages in the Narrative support this thesis with examples. Dehumanization can be described as the deprivation of an individual’s control over their actions and stripping them of their basic human rights and qualities. The act of dehumanization transpired in the 1800s when amputation, abuse, and other brutal means of punishment became a way to control slaves, leaving physical and physiological trauma on both the slave and the slaveholder. The relationship of the master and the slave is criticized and questioned continually as it is both wrong and unjust in society. The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave optimizes this accurately; documenting the distressing treatment inflicted upon the slaves by their owners. Douglass also illustrates the slaveholder exploiting their powers and its detrimental effects on the slaveholder. Throughout the course of the novel, Douglass explains the different strategies and techniques the slaveholders used to keep the slaves ignorant, a scheme by which they gained more power. Such behavior led many to believe the blacks were truly incompetent to participate within the white community, thus stripping them of their first natural right. Like animals, African American Slaves were also â€Å"trained† physiologically to think, Kumari 2 behavior, and act like slaves from birth. As explained in the Narrative, â€Å"the larger parts of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs. † (Douglass 17) The comparison compels the reader to compare the development of the slaves to that of an animal; detached and dispassionate. We will write a custom essay sample on Narrative of Fredrick Douglas specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Narrative of Fredrick Douglas specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Narrative of Fredrick Douglas specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Douglass depicts another tormenting effect on the slaves as they had â€Å"no more voice in that decision than the brutes among whom we were ranked. † (Douglass 49) This treatment of slaves as property or domestic animals concerns Douglass and epitomizes, yet again a barbarous form of dehumanization. Douglass further accentuates that many slaveholders kept their slaves indifferent by robbing them of their individual identities and paternity. Amongst the injustice and brutality of slavery is the exclusion of education and knowledge. The slaveholder would tactically deprive the laves of any knowledge because it would expose them of slavery’s injustice. This act dehumanized the slaves to a great extent, and at the same time forbade them to pursue any form of freedom, physically or spiritually. Hugh Auld, Douglass’s master reasoned that â€Å"it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read† and believed â€Å"If you have a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. † (Douglass 40, 41) Auld advocated his reasoning by calling a slave â€Å"unmanageable,† â€Å"unhappy,† and â€Å"discontented† if enlightened. Douglass however understood differently. The withdrawal of literacy and knowledge, he believed, was one of the greater factors keeping blacks inferior to whites in society. The Narrative also documents the many physiological effects of slaveholding. Douglass carefully explains the masters whipping their slaves when they least deserve it, and overlooking their deeds when they most deserve it. The killing of a slave is also considered the least of an offense or crime, and is simply gone Kumari 3 unnoticed. Douglass reveals the common saying that â€Å"it was worth a half-cent to kill a ‘nigger,’ and a half-cent to bury one. (Douglass 35) The saying denotes the worth of a human’s life, only decreased because the human is a slave. Relentless power, irresponsibility, profanity, and corruption were ranked highly amongst the descriptions of a slaveholder. Alongside the excruciating hours of labor and needless beating was the misuse of power which dehumanized the master morally. A sufficient amount of slavehold ers impregnate their female slaves at the plantations. Although Douglass himself is allegedly a seed planted by a white man, his fate of slave was inescapable. Douglass rationalizes that these acts were done to satisfy the masters themselves, â€Å"a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable. † (Douglass 18) The mistreating of the slaves depraves not only the victim, but the offender itself. The victimization of female slaves demonstrates the master’s misuse of power through adultery, rape, and unnecessary whipping for solely pleasurable reasons. The Narrative also discloses the appalling transformation of normal humans into depraved, self-righteous masters. The process is revealed through Sophia Auld, who at first, treats Douglass equally as her own and educates him. However, Mr. Auld explains to her the true immoral relationship of a master and a slave, the placement of a black person in society, and the balance of power between the two. Douglass then terms the transformation, describing slavery’s ability to â€Å"divest her of heavenly qualities†¦the tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. † Douglass rightly observed that â€Å"slavery proved injurious to her as it did to me. (Douglass 43) Sophia Auld’s character rightly illustrates the negative effects of Kumari 4 slaveholding, and the demon-like behavior that replaces the idealistic woman. Edward Covey and Thomas Auld also embody the perfect dehumanized slaveholders. Cruel and calculating, Covey is devoted to inflicting pain on his slaves physiologically and physically by carrying deception as his weapon. Thomas Auld on the other hand, transforms from cruel to an immensely vile human being despite his conversion into a â€Å"pious† man. Auld justifies his sins through religious practices and attends a Methodist Camp-meeting in finding â€Å"religious sanction and support for his slaveholding. † (Douglass 55) Douglass however sees such practices as instances of religious hypocrisy; an excuse for the sins a master has committed. Auld’s behavior signifies dehumanization and immorality increasingly because it exploits religious practices to hide the cruelty and sinning actions of the slaveholder. African American slaves possessed little human qualities, if any. Fredrick Douglass’s narrative documents the extent of nastiness, brutality, and evil mankind is capable of possessing. Douglass draws attention to how blacks were dehumanized by the unnatural practice and viciousness of slavery. The same slaves were forced to endure in conditions impractical to live by. The exact extent of immorality the slaveholders possessed also succeeded in destroying themselves. Much of these actions depicted the complete banishment of individual morals from the slaveholders and the inferiority imposed upon the black slaves. The Narrative explains that such brutal means of punishment to the slave or the slaveholder only discouraged the role of man and their responsibilities in society.