Essay Example on American Renaissance: Unlocking the True Potential of American Writers

Introduction

The American renaissance was a period in the mid-19th century that literature experienced massive numbers of literary work created by different authors. American Renaissance marks a considerable period in history as it allowed American writers to give back to their country using real literary talent. Writers before American renaissance struggled in their development and recognition as American writers as compared to those writers in other Europeans nations. Their potential in literature had never, at any time, been realized a factor leading to their ego dissatisfaction. The renaissance literary period was adequately used by the United States to provide solutions to some of the remaining issues from the American Revolution. The period brought about the romanticism narrative that described the life of Frederick Douglass as an American slave (Blight, 2016). The romantic period saw Frederick express his journey through slavery, its consequences, self-education, and freedom for the society for human equality.

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The romantic period emphasized literary styles that would help writers move from; reasons to emotions, recognize the ordinary people instead of aristocrats, facilitate individuality, embrace true freedom instead of authoritarian, and ensure control and nature against industrialization (Buell, 2016). Therefore, people can see what existed in history through personalized experiences. Historical storytelling would, in a substantial way helped the society draft measures that prevent experiences in the past from returning in the future.

Themes

Douglass, in his literary narrative, indicated several factors that related to his slavery encounters. He used ignorance as a slavery tool, knowledge, and impact of slavery as the primary themes of this narrative. First and foremost, slavery perpetrators used ignorance as a key to continuously hold slaves way to freedom. At the time, American literature came to existence; society believed slavery to be a natural way of life (Blight, 2016). Therefore, African-Americans would always be subject because they were incapable of participants in civil society. Slaves lived and ignored the elementary facts of their lives, missed the opportunity for education promoting illiteracy. For this reason, they had no chance of presenting their cases of ill-treatment to the person responsible for such hearings.

Second, enslaved individuals would only gain freedom by seeking to gain knowledge and education as necessary skills. Douglass was able to understand this and start the self-education journey that finally frees him from slavery. However, it was vital for him to note that education and knowledge did not necessarily mean freedom because they had to run from where they were held as slaves physically. On the other hand, the great significance of the narrative was to show the negative impacts slavery brought into society. There is an unnatural way of how the slaves and their masters operated something that causes detrimental effects to the morality of society (Reynolds, 2016). For instance, the masters used totalitarianism so that slaves behaved in a specific defined manner. Power by the masters was misused to have their way, limiting the impacts of a more significant society for all individuals.

Characteristics

The main characteristics in the historical rise of the American literature addressed the writer's emotions and personal well-being, controlled nature, imagination, impounded industrialization, and freedom. Therefore, in their search for identity, they distinguished between an individuals' place and what functions they have in society. For instance, Douglass used his well-being narrative during slavery to provide solutions to the society. Hence, his place as an African-American was what he continuously fought for and equality in society. Besides, personalized descriptions give society a different view of history and how much it meant to those who went through slavery. Thus, he finds strength and inspiration to live and celebrate life as an individual despite the hardships in bondage for a better society.

Douglass, in his narrative, relates to the characteristic that identified with the common man other than those in government. The citizen's freedom is highly instigated against the odds of an authoritarian leadership process. Frederick Douglas identifies that high levels of injustices and slavery have existed in the history of America. The nation, in many instances, has celebrated the idea of equality among all people. However, according to him, this was falsely based on existing unjustness. Freedom for everybody in the country is absent since society has developed stratifying boundaries that interfere with people's freedom. For instance, in his statement, "Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these excellent qualities, and her home of its early happiness." Unfortunately, human nature cannot allow one's conscience to withstand much violence without falling apart. Therefore, the new being of literature gave an insight into what the common man, however good, was affected by the shared identity. Having lived through a time of slavery, he was able to give points of lousy history and measures for a better future to the nation using literary styles.

Moreover, he gives his understanding of nature, where he expresses nature as pure, unbiased, and a place that brings individuals together. However, even when the nature of life has such attractiveness to humans, slavery is an evil that drives people to hate others. Therefore, he was determined to fight for freedom as well as unity among individuals from different classes and racial groups. With a literature change as a long term plan to change things in the societal, cultural ways, Douglass found the importance of healing the slavery scares so that he moved and pushed for a democratic future. Therefore, he fought for slaves' freedom as well as freedom from the unequal treatment of people. American literature had allowed him to promote the understanding of democracy so that people would eventually understand and practice equality among all men.

Frederick Douglas, upon realizing the power of literature he majorly understood the significant role he played in society by being an inspiration to the people. He felt the need to educate the people through the literature on the significance of respecting human dignity. Besides, his emotional expression was thought from the description he gave in his writing and tonal variation when he was giving a speech (Douglass, 2018). The experience in narration would help society understand the pain and suffering that comes from slavery. Therefore, people would not, in any way, conduct practices that led to such experiences an impact that makes him an outstanding literature writer in the country.

Narrative devices

Frederick Douglass used several literary elements to deliver a compelling narrative to the audience and make a significant changing impact on society. Literary devices of symbolism and allegory have been used. For instance, white-sailed ships and the Columbian Orator he came across after self-education was used as a symbol of the future society (Stepto, 2016). Metaphorically, the white-sailed ships that were abandoned indicate a conveyed rule while the Columbian Orator was the path of freedom from slavery. Besides, the Orator in a symbolic manner pointed power of oration.

On the other hand, an allegory has to be used in the comparison between current and past knowledge requirements. In today's society, one must be in a position to read and write something that was not availed or required for everyone in the past. Although slaves were not allowed to access knowledge, there is a clear indication that it is a path to one's freedom. Songs have also been used as allegory as it was commonly used by the slaves while conducting their everyday duties. Slaves are, in most cases, miserable due to the pressure subjected to them; thus, they are sorrowful. However, through these songs, they were able to get rid of these painful experiences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, American renaissance was the most fantastic thing that happened to America and society in general. As a result of the romantic period, writers were able to express their emotions and personalize their experiences into literary material. "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" was intended to deliver the society from slavery and ensure that everybody has an equal opportunity to a quality life. Besides, it was the beginning of having a conducive environment where humans from different races can naturally co-exist without facing indifferent treatment. The themes, characteristics, and narrative devices have been adequately used to deliver the intended message of American history. Thus, the account will remain evident in the literature world, which attracts a good number compared to those researching history.

References

Blight, D. W. (2016). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself. Macmillan Higher Education.

Buell, L. (2016). Literary transcendentalism: Style and vision in the American Renaissance. Cornell University Press.

Douglass, F. (2018). The Speeches of Frederick Douglass: A Critical Edition. Yale University Press.

Reynolds, D. S. (2016). American Renaissance. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.

Stepto, R. B. (2016). Storytelling in Early Afro-American Fiction: Frederick Douglass's 'The Heroic Slave'. In Black Literature and Literary Theory (pp. 175-186). Routledge.