Many relationships in life are a balancing act between people in opposing roles: submissive and dominant. Sometimes, like in the case of a parent and their child, the dominant person is there to stop the submissive person from making bad choices so that they can become better individuals. These relationships, although sometimes beneficial, are often misused. White slave owners and slavery advocates accepted the idea that whites were supposed to dominate African Americans, claiming that they were trying to “help” them by enslaving them. This “help” was just an excuse for their racism. This superiority complex developed because the most read book, the Bible, says so. He says, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with reverence and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ” (Ephesians 6:5). These misconceptions supported and justified their racism, prejudice, and cruelty toward the African American race through slavery. However, many people, such as abolitionists, did not accept this idea. Many contested it and often asked questions questioning the legitimacy of this system, thus advocating equality between African-Americans and whites. Frederick Douglass and Toni Morrison, both black writers, both advocated for equality and against slavery. However, Frederick Douglass and Toni Morrison both use the metaphor, but differ in their respective use of anecdote and repetition to destroy defenses of slavery and argue for equality for African Americans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayDouglass advocates for equality by showing how destructive slavery is to slaves and their owners through a metaphor to refute the logic of slavery. The logic of slavery claims that slavery is mutually beneficial to slaves and whites, because white men need workers and slavery protects slaves from bad choices. Douglass, who began life on a plantation and experienced the brutality of slavery, disagreed with this. He was eventually placed with a family in Baltimore, and the woman who owned him was originally kind because she had never owned a slave before. Once initiated into slavery, she changed completely because “the deadly poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands.” . . the joyful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage. . . and this angelic face gave way to that of a demon” (Douglass 960). Douglass uses poison as a metaphor for power by saying that slavery, like poison, destroys his mistress from the inside out and transforms her into someone the slaves see as a demonic harbinger of pain and suffering. Douglass's metaphor leads the reader to question the legitimacy of the mutual benefits of slavery, because here slavery harms the slave owner by making him inhumane. Douglass explains that slavery demonizes the owner and therefore causes him to bring terror and pain to the slaves. Through metaphor, he argues not by explaining why African Americans are equal, but by exposing the reader to the lack of logic that people use to justify slavery. After questioning the logic, the reader concludes that slavery is wrong because he understands its universally destructive effects. Douglass effectively argues for equality by creating a question thatmakes the reader see the distortion that slavery is, leading them to no longer support it. They have no choice but to believe that no one should own another person and that equality for African Americans should be a necessary and expected part of society. Douglass's arguments that disarm the commonly accepted logic of slavery encourage these readers to arrive at coincidental conclusions. Toni Morrison, like Douglass, creates metaphors to argue for equality and the negative effects of slavery on African Americans and whites in order to combat the logic of slavery. Although he grew up after emancipation, Morrison was exposed to issues of racism and white supremacy. In describing post-Civil War society, she states: “White people believed…. . . beneath every dark skin was a jungle. . .screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready to receive their sweet white blood. In a way. . . they were right. . . . But these were not the blacks from the jungle brought here with them. . . . It was the whites of the jungle who were established there. . . .It has spread. . . until it invaded the white people who created it. . . . Made them bloody, stupid, worse than they wanted to be, so afraid were they of the jungle they had created. The screaming baboon lived under its own white skin; the red gums were theirs” (Morrison 208). Morrison metaphorically compares African Americans and whites to blood-hungry “screaming baboons” living in the jungle. Here, Morrison characterizes both African Americans and whites as savages, which stems from the slavery that whites perpetuate. Slavery made African Americans savage and uncivilized, as Morrison acknowledged, saying they were right, and made white people as savage as they think they are. She describes slavery as making white people worse off than they wanted and making African Americans savage enough to hunger for white blood. This goes against the same idea that Douglass is arguing against, that slavery was desirable for everyone involved. Both authors show that this is detrimental to everyone involved and each makes a case for equality by pointing this out to readers using a metaphor and forcing them to question this logic. The reader realizes that slavery cannot benefit anyone, it only destroys the people it touches and drives them to become savage and animalistic. Thanks to Douglass and Morrison, they will discredit the logic of slavery and the institution of slavery. The arguments of these two authors are effective because they each convinced people to advocate equality rather than slavery through metaphor. These negative comparisons are why readers agree with the authors, because it makes them see the failures of pro-slavery logic. Although these authors do similar things to argue the same idea, they sometimes differ in their methods. Douglass argues for equality by forcing readers to question the ethics of slavery with the help of an anecdote. Douglass grew up as a slave and his terrible conditions led him to question the institution that enslaved him. Douglass shares one of his questions by stating, “White children could know their ages. I could not say why I should be deprived of the same privilege” (Douglass 946). This anecdote sticks in the reader's mind, and the more he thinks about it, the more Douglass's confusion becomes the focus of his questions. His confusion leaves the reader wondering why exactly Douglass did not deserve to know his age and whether there..