Frederick Douglass - Introduction

The inclusion of quotes from the actual text were the first thing that stuck out to me in the introduction to Frederick Douglass' Narrative. The introduction we read last week about Harper's New Monthly Magazine did not include direct quotes from the text. In my opinion, the inclusion of quotes made this introduction much more interesting than the Harper's introduction. However, I think that the quotes also resulted in the introduction closely resembling a summary as the quotes work to tell the short version of the story from beginning to end. The Harper's introduction focused on the history of the magazine largely and why the magazine was so successful (reputation), with ultimate hopes of creating readership. The introduction to Frederick Douglass' Narrative focused on the story and the content iteslf hoping that the plot would lure the reader to continue.

The Harper's introduction had a much more formal tone than the Frederick Douglass introduction, due partially to the differences in information included in the two introductions. The Frederick Douglass introduction feels largely like a short story, which typically are easy to read and fairly entertaining. The Harper's introduction was more informative and used more formal language to reflect the reputation of the magazine, which is publishing pieces with literary merit. Also, the tone of the writing of Frederick Douglass' introduction can also be described as colloquial because it is so easy to understand, which in the case of telling a story is a positive. The tone is also inviting to the reader because it tells the main points but leaves out enough details to make the reader want to know the rest of the story, accomplishing the typical goal of an introduction.