Frederick Douglass VS.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass are both known for being visionaries and rhetoricians. Both great men were way ahead of their times in their beliefs of many human rights movements including that of slaves and women. Both men believe that women are equal but convey it in nearly opposite ways. Twain thinks that women are equal in the sense of rights whilst Douglass believes that women too are equal to men because of their cruel, savage nature. Twain and Douglass both use repetition and compound sentences to express their similar yet different opinions on women and their stance in society. Though both Douglass and Twain use repetition to convey the same message, the meanings of their beliefs are nearly contradictory. Douglass uses anaphora with the word she when his slave owner is in the process of demonization. As the shes mount up, Douglasss slave owner becomes progressively more evil and aggressive. The she is also used to represent how she has lost herself and has turned into a cruel, savage monster just like the men slave-owners. Twain uses repetition to express his feeling towards the fact that women do not have the full rights of men at this point in time. Twain repeats a shame twice to express how disappointed he is with the lack of progress in the U.S. regardless of their growing leadership stance in the world. He believes that the U.S. should be setting precedents for other nations and that women deserve their rights because they are no different to men intellectually. The use of compound sentences by Douglass and Twain differ in the way they use it as well as its meaning. When Douglass talks about his female slave-owner he uses

compound sentences to give an effect of the growth of her wrath and evil. Douglass believes that women do indeed have the same power and inner evil as men they just keep it back due to their role in society. Twain, on the other hand, uses compound sentences to contrast between the present and the future. Twain believes that women are equal and that he will not peacefully die until they have the same rights as men. By using compound sentences, Twain summarizes his intentions and abruptly tells the audience that he indeed does believe women are equal and deserve equal power because of it. Though both great leaders in rights movements, Douglass and Twain differ on if women truly deserve equality. Twain sees women as unfortunate, equal human-beings who deserve to be recognized whilst Douglass sees them as equally bad as men and equal in that sense.