M. NourbeSe Philips’ reading of “Discourse on the Logic of Language” relates to Frederick Douglass’s life through “anguish,” slavery, and language. The poem mentions the prevention of slaves speaking to one another in order to avoid any rebellion. It also mentions that any slave seen speaking to another slave in their native languages would face punishment by their owners. These punishments were so brutal they even included the removal of the slave’s tongue. This reminds me of a portion in the narrative of Frederick Dougass where he speaks of the slaves being “ranked” and equal to animals. He also spoke about a time called the “division” stating he had no “language to express the high excitement and deep anxiety which were felt among us poor slaves during this time. (40)” I believe this relates to the poem regarding the lack of “language” slaves had. The poem also contains a technique in enunciating specific words in order to give importance to what they needed the reader to understand. An example of this is when the reader introduces the idea of a slave’s “mother tongue.” The idea of language plays a very important role in both “Discourse on the Logic of Language” and Frederick Douglass’ “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”.