It is widely known and accepted that humans are superior to animals. Humans can read, write, and have opposable thumbs, while animals cannot or do not have the ability to do these things. Although humans are actually animals, being called animals is a comment that many find offensive. Frederick Douglass, a well-known African American who escaped slavery, in his book The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, uses this fact to illustrate the inhumane treatment suffered by slaves and how simply participating in slavery affected both the slave and the enslaved. the owner of the slave. In his novel he talks about how he began his life, what he experienced, and ultimately how he achieved his goal of becoming educated and escaping the bonds of slavery. In the midst of all this, he uses analogies and draws parallels between the life of the slave and the life of an animal. His purpose was to illustrate the extreme dehumanizing factor of slavery bestowed upon his subjects, and in doing so he uses metaphors, similes, and vivid details to help the reader capture what was really happening during his life and the lives of his subjects. people around him. Douglas begins his book by discussing how he began his life as a slave and illustrates how much slave owners withheld from their slaves. For example, Douglass explains that he was never told his age and that until his death he did not know his birthday (19). However, he overheard his master in a conversation and from this concluded that he was born somewhere around 1818. Not allowing slaves to know too much about themselves had a dehumanizing effect on them, because it implied that a slave's worth was equal or even less than animals. Douglass reinforces this…half of the document…the evils of slavery affected the owners. In conclusion, Douglass' main argument throughout his novel was that slavery was inhumane to both parties; the slave and the slave owner. Douglass explains that slavery was an evil that could turn the gentlest soul into a soul red with rage, as he experienced firsthand. Throughout his novel Douglass is able to use analogies to compare slavery to animal behavior and vivid details to put the reader in his shoes and see it from the slaves' point of view. Using these rhetorical elements, Douglass is able to more fully explain the dehumanizing effect that slavery has on his subjects, and how fortunate he was to be able to educate himself and escape what he called "a den of hungry lions." , Frederick. Narration of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. New York: Barnesand Nobles Classics, 2003. Print.