What is one literary device used in chapters 3, 5, 6, and 8-11 of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?

Chapter Three includes a biblical allusion. Douglass tells the reader that to describe the wealth of Colonel Lloyd would be "almost equal to describing the riches of Job." In Chapter Five, he uses a simile, comparing the slave children eating mush, a porridge of boiled corn meal, "like so many pigs," from a trough set on the ground. This literary device is very powerful because it illustrates how the institution of slavery dehumanized the young people caught up in it. In Chapter Six he uses a powerful metaphor, referring to the "fatal poison of irresponsible power" that corrupts even the fundamentally decent Sophia Auld. In Chapter Eight, he uses an oxymoron to describe the injustice of putting his aged grandmother out to fend for herself after she has become too old to work on the plantation. She is left, Douglass tells the reader, in "perfect loneliness." In Chapter Nine he employs a frequently-used device—juxtaposition—to illustrate the hypocrisy of slavery in an allegedly Christian society. The Thomases "kneel every morning, and pray that God would bless them in basket and store" even as Douglass and the other slaves are "nearly perishing with hunger." In Chapter Ten we see figurative language employed, as Douglass says he "was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery," and in Chapter Eleven he uses a powerful simile, comparing his feelings upon fleeing slavery as "like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions." These literary devices and many more are reminders that the Narrative is not, and was not seen at the time, as an objectively true narrative. It was rather a condemnation of slavery using the remembered life experiences of one man as an example of its horrors.

Chapter 3 of Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass includes the line: "Its excellent fruit was quite a temptation to the hungry swarms of boys, as well as the older slaves, belonging to the colonel, few of whom had the virtue or the vice to resist it." The word "swarms" is a metaphor.

Chapter 5 includes the line: "The children were then called, like so many pigs, and like so many pigs they would come and devour the mush; some with oyster- shells, others with pieces of shingle, some with naked hands, and none with spoons." The phrase "like so many pigs" is a simile or an analogy, if you will. I still think that simile is the more accurate answer.

These literary devices are extremely easy to find. You only need to read the brief chapters. Each one is full of many such devices.

How does Douglass use literary devices to make his experiences vivid in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave?

Frederick Douglass's work stands as a first-person testament to the horrors of slavery, and his purpose was to help others see that as well. Ultimately, he wanted to open the eyes of Americans who were ambivalent or outright ignorant of the actual experiences slaves endured. To accomplish a powerfully persuasive narrative, he relies on many literary devices throughout his book.

One of the sharpest and most painful images is when Douglass recounts witnessing the beating of his own aunt as a young boy:

I have often been awakened at dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom [Captain Anthony] used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip to make her scream, and whip to make her hush; and not until over come by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin.

The imagery here is enough to make any reader wince. And that is exactly the effect Douglass wants to create—to make the image he witnesses as a young child so vivid that the reader cannot help but see the same horrors. Also worth noting in this section is the metaphor of an iron heart. His master is steeled in his purpose to inflict incredible pain upon this woman. Douglass also uses a nice triplet of subject: No words, no tears, no prayers. This intensifies the desperation of his aunt as she pleads for mercy. The juxtaposition of whipping to make her scream and whipping to make her hush shows the lunacy in the master's actions; they were merciless and completely unpredictable.

Douglass utilizes personification in the following text:

These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into an existence an entirely new train of thought.

In this section of chapter 6, Mr. Auld discovers that his wife has been teaching Douglass to read. He forbids her to give any further instruction, telling him that slaves "should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do." He continues his explanation: "If you teach [Douglass] to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master." It is these words that stir things within Douglass that he realizes have lain "slumbering." He finally is able to voice something he has felt all along: By keeping slaves from an education, white men are able to better keep them in slavery. No longer "slumbering," Douglass realizes his new mission: learning to read.

After a battle with Mr. Covey, Douglass uses this metaphor:

It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom . . .

This image of giving life to a dying fire is powerful in showing how Douglass is regaining his sense of self and purpose in chapter 10. Later in that same paragraph, he notes,

It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom.

This allusion to the Biblical ascension of Christ straight from the tomb into heaven is also a metaphor for Douglass's own feelings of power. He sees that he can overcome his situation even though he has felt dead in his tombs of slavery for years.

The description of Mr. Severe in chapter 2 has alliteration:

His presence made it both the field of blood and of blasphemy.

This repetition reinforces both the physical and the mental sufferings the slaves on this plantation endure under Mr. Severe.

Douglass's writing is rich in literary elements, and they all combine to create an effectively compelling narrative.

What literary devices are used in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?

Frederick Douglass uses several types of figurative language in his narrative one of which is allusion.  Specifically, Douglass makes many Biblical allusions in the narrative to question the interpretation of Biblical passages in their support of slavery.  Early in the narrative, Douglass discusses the phenomenon of slaves multiplying on plantations because masters had gotten into the habit of having intercourse with their female slaves.  Douglass says that if nothing else, the new class of biracial people "will do away with the force of the argument, that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right."  Douglass makes an allusion to the passage in the Bible where Ham is cursed for seeing his father naked.  It had been a widely held belief that Africans and other black people are the decendents of Ham, which was therefore used as a justification for enslaving them.  Douglass, however, challenges this idea by stating that many slaves were the decendents of white overseers.  His challenge reveals the deeper meaning regarding the false justification of slavery and the moral ills that support the institution.

I stand corrected and agree that "analogy" is probably a better term than "simile" (although I'm not sure the distinction between the two is all that clear, particularly when the comparison is brief), but I don't agree with the statement that Douglass' account is likely to make only rare use of literary devices.

Douglass' work was written not just as a historical record; it was an anti-slavery tract and is full of passion and all sorts of non-literal applications of language. In Chapter IV, for example, he describes the changes in the attitude of a woman who had previously been teaching him to read and write:

But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.

In this passage, I see metaphor and alliteration all over the place as well as metonymy (where "heart," "hands," "eye," "voice," and "face" all work as parts of the whole unnamed noun "woman").

[This answer is in two posts...]

The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas is an authentic, factual narrative of true, unmbellished events the purpose of which is to describe an accurate picture of life as a slave in America as Mr. Douglas experienced it first-hand. Consequently, it will be rare to find the types of literary devices in it that are used in abundance in fictional works or more emotive factual narratives. The sorts of literary devices that I'm refering to, which will be rarely found in The Life of Frederick Douglas are tropes like metaphors and similes and verbal irony and sarcasm . The first th that I mention are not literal, but are figurative and are used to create strong imagery. Since Douglas is telling a non-emotive, factual account, he sticks to literal meaning of words, unless he's quoting someone who spoke figuratively.

The second two I mentioned (verbal irony and  sarcasm) make points by expressing the contrast between what is expected to be and what actually is, with sarcasm being an extreme and often insulting form of irony. These two devices are often used to conjure up a response of humor to the wit being displayed, so, again, in a strictly factual account with as high a purpose as Mr. Douglass's purpose, he will not be expected to frequently indulge in either verbal irony or sarcasm, although you may find painful ironies in situations that he narrates (a situation in which the reality is different from the expectation.) An example of situational irony, which Douglas narrates with strict seriousness, is in Chapter 2 where he writes:

There were no beds given the slaves, unless one
coarse blanket be considered such, and none but
the men and women had these. This, however, is
not considered a very great privation. They find less
difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want
of time to sleep;

There is a doubly ironic situation told of in this passage. the first relates to beds. The statement that no beds are given to slaves is poignant enough, but then Douglas adds the irony that the blankets they are given are all that can be called beds. This highlights the sorrow of the truth by showing the irony therein. He goes on to say that the slaves don't really notice the absence of beds because, ironically, they so seldom have time to sleep, again, accentuating the sorrow of their situations.

For future reference, let's define literary device. A literary device is a literary element or a literary technique. (I'm not done....) Literary devices are the tools an author uses to express his ideas through the medium of language. This is why literary devices encompass both literary elements and literary techniques. So what are literary elements? Literary elements are the large universal parts of a narrative, whether fiction of nonfiction. These large universal parts are things like theme, narrator, setting, conflict, point-of-view, structure, etc. While you look for the literary devices in Douglass's strictly factual narrative, you can look for these kinds of literary elements.

[Second post below... Also, immediately below is a link to an eNotes Study Guide on allusions in Douglass's text.]

This is a big task, of course, as there are 11 chapters to Frederick Douglass' slave narrative. I'll gladly get you started, though.

The third sentence in Chapter 1 begins: "By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs..." This sentence contains a simile; slaves are likened to horses, using the word "as".

In case you don't already have a list of literary devices. you might want to review one or two. I've identified two such lists (see the links below), but you can no doubt find others!

In his narrative, Douglass's intent is to convince white audiences of the horrors and evil of slavery. He uses literary devices to convey the inhumanity of an institution in which one group of people has total power over another. These devices include imagery, point-of-view, and dichotomy.   

Douglass uses vivid imagery to convey to his audience the reality of the life of a slave. He doesn't just state that slaves were whipped: he describes it using sensory details so that readers can feel the pain and humiliation of the slave. He writes:

I have seen Colonel Lloyd make old Barney, a man between fifty and sixty years of age, uncover his bald head, kneel down upon the cold, damp ground, and receive upon his naked and toil-worn shoulders more than thirty lashes at the time.

Douglass always tells his story from the point-of-view of the slaves, and he uses this technique to dispel comforting myths that whites tell themselves about slavery not being so bad. For example, he writes in chapter two that while whites interpret slaves singing as a sign they are happy with their lot, to the slave, the opposite is true: slaves sing to express that they are distressed. He writes that the songs:

breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains

In chapter three, Douglass again uses point-of-view to tell the story of a slave who was sold down river to Georgia when he inadvertently complained about his situation to Colonel Lloyd, a master he had never met because Lloyd owned so many slaves. This is why, Douglass says, slaves will pretend to whites they are happy. He writes:

It is partly in consequence of such facts, that slaves, when inquired of as to their condition and the character of their masters, almost universally say they are contented, and that their masters are kind. The slaveholders have been known to send in spies among their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition. The frequency of this has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head. 

Douglass also uses the literary device of dichotomy to draw a distinction between the natural behaviors of humans to one another and the distorting and corrupting effect racism has on those. For example, when he arrives in Baltimore in chapter six, he describes the kindness and humanity that his owner's wife, Mrs. Auld, shows to him and the other slaves at first, allowing them to look her in the face without cringing servility. She even begins to teach Frederick how to read. However, after her husband starts to indoctrinate her on the role of the slave and how damaging it is to teach them anything, she changes almost into another person and becomes haughty and cruel. Douglass uses this device to show that the abuse with which slaves are treated is not natural but socially constructed. 

Literary devices is a broad category, but some examples are figurative language such as similes, metaphors and personification and rhetorical devices such as repetition and apostrophe.   Douglass is very descriptive, and it does not take much to locate these examples.

Douglass uses figurative language often, to really help the horrors of slavery hit home.  For example, he describes the overseer as having “stone-like coolness” (ch 4, p. 12).

In chapter 5, Douglass talks about the impact of going to Baltimore on his life by saying if he had not been removed from the plantation he would have “been confined in the galling chains of slavery” (ch 5, p. 15).  He uses this metaphor a lot.

In chapter 10, Douglass addresses the ships in the harbor, comparing them to his own life.  This is known as apostrophe, which is when a character talks to someone not there.

“You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip!” (ch 10, p. 29)

They can leave the harbor, and be free on the ocean, and he never can be free of slavery.

In this same chapter Douglass uses another device he uses frequently, repetition.

O that I were free! O, that I were on one of your gallant decks, and under your protecting wing! ... O, why was I born a man, of whom to make a brute! (ch 10, p. 29)

By repeating the exclamation, he really brings home his feelings and what he was thinking at the time.

Also from chapter 10 is this simile.  A simile compares two unlike things.

When I could stand no longer, I fell, and felt as if held down by an immense weight. (p. 29)

In this case, Frederick compares his body to a weight.  He has been weighed down by slavery.  He uses this language again in the same chapter.

The white men were on horseback, and the colored ones were walking behind, as if tied. (ch 10, p. 37)

In chapter 11, Douglass uses both repetition and simile to compare how he feels about people who think they understand slavery.

—in the midst of houses, yet having no home,—among fellow-men, yet feeling as if in the midst of wild beasts ...(ch 11, p. 43)

By describing what is happening to him with literary devices, we are able to really picture what he went through.  As Douglass says, we can never really understand.  Yet his frank, honest, and precise descriptions are so vivid that he lets us into his world a little at a time, and we are grateful for it.

Literary elements are distinguished from literary techniques in that literary elements include anything that is essential in any storytelling. Essential elements of storytelling include such things as characterization, conflict, plot, point of view, resolution, setting, tone, and theme (Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon). In contrast, literary techniques include anything that is not essential for storytelling but that the author adds to convey the overall message. Examples of literary techniques include such things as imagery, figurative language, symbolism, and rhetorical devices. As a narrative, Frederick Douglass's memoir titled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass naturally contains all essential elements of storytelling. Two of the most fascinating elements include characterization and theme.

Douglass strives a great deal to portray his masters as real, genuine people. To do so, he captures them as complex characters with human traits. Though Douglass suffered a great deal of cruelty, since not all human beings are cruel, he is careful to honestly portray those who were and weren't. Master Andrew and Master Thomas Auld are described as being the cruelest masters he's known, whereas Mrs. Sophia Auld is described as one of his kindest masters. Sophia began teaching him to read but was stopped by her husband, Mr. Hugh Auld, who informed her, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell," meaning that the more you teach a slave to know anything beyond obeying his master, the more threat the slave poses to the master and society at large. Unfortunately, after being forbidden by her husband to teach Douglass to read, her attitude toward him changed; he describes her as suddenly becoming angry and harsh (Ch. VI).

Douglass's descriptions of his masters' treatment serve to help develop some of his themes, including the effects of racism, the abuse endured by slaves, and the white man's ability to keep men enslaved simply by keeping them uneducated and unequal.