Critical Introductions

In the critical introduction to Frederick Douglass's Autobiography, the author provides a long summary of events that occur within the story and provides a couple of connections to historical events. This is much different from the critical introduction to Harper's New Monthly Magazine we read last class. The critical introduction to Harper's went into amazing detail describing the history of the magazine and the four brothers who made it as well as providing a list of topics one might find to read about. The author, while presenting facts also gave his opinions on certain topics such as the intended readership of this magazine. The critical introduction to Frederick Douglass had no opinions, just a summary of the narrative, perhaps in order to appeal to a less scholarly audience.
In the critical introduction to Frederick Douglass's Autobiography, the tone of the writing is very neutral. The author was not trying to entice readers into reading the story based on his own interpretations of the narrative, but rather wanted the readers to read the narrative based on what the story was about.