Question: Frederick Douglass "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"

Initial Post: 1. You are assigned "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"

2. Determine the main theme of that essay.

3. Go back through the assigned readings to find 1 short story or poem that you think deals with a similar theme. Be creative when figuring out shared themes-there may be some interesting ones that are not immediately obvious because of the difference in forms.

4. Discuss the rhetorical techniques-voicing, tone, imagery, symbolism, rhetorical appeals, etc.-that the authors of the two works use. Do they use similar rhetorical techniques?

5. How do the rhetorical techniques used and the form (essay, short fiction, or poetry) seem to affect the way the theme is addressed?

Please divide your posts into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and illustrate what you say.