Dexter Greene Essay, Research Paper
A man can say a lot through his face. For the human race, facial expressions are perhaps the most expressive and universal communication we can use. One does not usually notice the facial expressions of animals, but there is a look. A look you notice in the eyes of two alley cats as they fight over the most generous trash cans. And the look that flashes across the face of the buck just as it turns its head and its eyes focus on the pursuer, to be pursued no more. I would imagine this same look on the face of Frederick Douglas as he lived in a strange nation within his own country, and was the constant prey of many. The panic and hopelessness of the hunted animal belonged to Douglas during his time in the free states, these feelings become apparent through his use of similes and the frantic pace and punctuation of his essay.
Douglas?s first mention of pursuit was a positive one. Although helpless and pursued by pirates, he felt as though he had a savior, a ?friendly man of war?. He was speaking of his initial escape into freedom, when it was still the ?moment of highest excitement [he] ever experienced?.
The second allusion to the hunt was a direct one. Douglas expresses his anxieties over the danger of being taken back into slavery. He exclaims that he was in constant fear of ?money-loving kidnappers? whom he directly compares to ?the ferocious beasts of the forest?? waiting for their prey. The direct mention of Douglas as ?prey? coupled with the animal nature of his pursuers makes the animal allusion more apparent.
Douglas again mentions himself as prey when he describes his surroundings as ?a hunting ground for slave-holders?. He mentions that he is in constant fear of being seized upon as (note the animal reference) ?the hideous crocodile seizes upon his prey?. By now the primal look of fear has asserted itself on his face and in his minds, but he clenches it by telling us to imagine ourselves ?pursued by merciless man-hunters?. There is no other conclusion to draw except to compare the runaway slave to the hunted prey.
The frantic panic present in the hunted is conveyed through Douglas?s punctuation, or lack thereof. From the beginning of his discourse on the state of mind of the fugitive slave Douglas omits periods, replacing them with connecting dashes. As his mind raced at a frantic pace from his hopeless flight, so did his sentences.
Douglas?s main appeal to the audience is to put themselves in his place. To see the hunter pursuing him through the swamp of hunger and panic. To ?Trust no man!?, and feel utter isolation. Through Douglas?s mastery of imagery his essay is effective in it?s purpose to make the reader ?sympathize with the toil-worn and whip-scarred fugitive slave.?