Considering that Douglass delivered this speech with the intent to underscore the hypocrisy of America, considering its values of independence coexisting with the institution of slavery, it is odd to ask to identify a character. Characters are usually found in works of fiction, but I am going to assume that this assignment instead wants you to discuss the eponymous slave that Douglass references throughout the speech to emphasize his claims.
Douglass uses “the slave” as an exemplar for the experience of all those enslaved at the time he delivered this speech. His central argument is that it is unjust to celebrate freedom in a nation where an entire group of people remains disenfranchised and enslaved for no other reason than the color of their skin.
To argue this point, Douglass addresses numerous counterclaims that those who were either skeptical or only lukewarm supporters of abolition frequently used to criticize the anti-slavery movement. In one of these passages, Douglass describes all the things the slave does that prove he is a human being, including working, reading, and facing legal punishments for crimes committed. He draws a parallel between this average slave figure and any free man, who has the same abilities and habits. However, Douglass states that this slave in Virginia can be sentenced to death for a laundry list of crimes, while his white counterpart only has two crimes for which he might receive the same punishment. This demonstrates Douglass’s point that slaves are treated unfairly yet possess the same kind of humanity as free men.
Further, Douglass answers his own question with biting irony about the meaning of Independence Day for this slave. Douglass suggests that despite society’s attempt to denigrate and infantilize him, the slave scorns the nation’s celebration of liberty because he clearly discerns its hypocrisy.
For Douglass, this representative of all slaves is further proof of the injustices committed against black men and women. Besides the physical and legal bondage to which slaves are subjected, Douglass condemns the psychological burdens and cognitive dissonance that American hypocrisy places on those it willfully excludes from society. The only way the slave can undermine these attempts at undermining his personhood is to maintain individual autonomy and humanity in whatever ways he can. If you may can I Have Branist