Major Essay Using Douglass

Again, this writing assignment give you a chance to use your skills in critical thinking and argumentation using MLA documentation of another source as  support for your own ideas. To this end, you are asked to read and analyze the argument in Douglass’ boo: Then logically formulate and present an argumentative essay concerning bullying using the Douglass text as support for your own ideas. Of course, we can see that Douglass was the victim of abuse, but he sees the slave owner as a victim of the entire system of slavery. Instead of allowing himself to remain a victim of this abusive system, he makes plans as a young boy to learn to read so that he can escape from his situation.

ASSIGNMENT

 Write an essay (Approximately 5-6 pages double-spaced) in which you respond to Douglass’ position in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and in which you present an experience you are familiar with regarding bullying. In order to make your purpose clear to readers, introduce the book and give a summary of observations. Thus the first part of your essay will explore the ramifications of the book. Then, make a smooth transition to how one can avoid becoming the victim of bullying. The personal experience could be when you have been the victim of “the poison of irresponsible power” in your lifetime. If you have never experienced being bullied, you could use another example of which you are aware. It can be as simple as an experience from childhood from a coach or a teacher or perhaps a supervisor or manager has unfairly used power over the employees. Support your ideas with information from Douglass’ text.  Of course, any irresponsible power that we have experienced cannot truly be compared to Douglass’ experience. Therefore, we are not comparing our experiences with those of Douglass. We will be using some of Douglass’ ideas and his wisdom to support our own attitudes to our experiences. Acknowledging the difference between Douglass’ experience and our own could be done to make the distinction clear to readers.

THESIS

The thesis should clearly state your position. Reflect on these questions or ones of your own to help formulate your thesis: How can one avoid being