Important People
This fellow slave's superstition motivated him to give Douglass a root to ward off beatings from slave holders.
Who is Sandy Jenkins?
These are used by slave holders for two reasons: (1) to manipulate slaves into feeling that they are incapable of handling their freedom and (2) to "serve as conductors, or safety valves, to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity."
What are the days between Christmas Day and New Year's Day?
The brutal shooting of this slave by Mr. Austin Gore demonstrated that the most hideous crimes could be executed by whites against slaves without justice.
Who is Demby?
In addition to rhetorical questioning, the repetition of the opening word of each sentence in this passage demonstrates the use of this syntactical feature in the following quotation:
"Does a slave look dissatisfied? It is said he has the devil in him, and it must be whipped out. Does he speak loudly when spoken to by his master? Then he is getting high-minded. . . Does he forget to pull off his hat at the approach of of white person? Then he is wanting in reverence, and should be whipped for it."
What is anaphora?
In lower case, this word means the care and guidance of a higher spiritual power, but capitalized it refers to God directly.
What is providence?
The person who taught Douglass his ABCs
Who is Sophia Auld?
To convince a northern audience, who might have been uncertain about their stance on abolition, Douglass describes these-- often talked about as evidence of the contentment in slaves-- as "represent[ing] the sorrows of [a slave's] heart" and what he "trace[s] his first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery."
What are the songs that slaves sing?
Even though Douglass eventually gets to a free state, he is still anxious, fearful, and lonely. His apprehension comes from the fact that this law is on the books in southern AND northern states.
What is The Fugitive Slave Law?
The stylistic technique of syntax that is used in this description of the "valuation" of slaves after Douglass's master's death:
"Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine."
What is parallel structure or juxtaposition?
lacking physical strength; weakness
What is feeble?
This person tried to break Douglass, but instead, instilled a greater desire to escape the bondage of slavery.
Who is Edward Covey?
Douglass states, “the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" Later, he tells the reader, "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." This event causes Douglass to regain his hope and humanity.
What is defeating Edward Covey?
Douglass uses a metaphor between bread and knowledge twice in the narrative. When speaking of the boys who helped him learn in Baltimore he says, "This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. Later he tells us that this abolitionist newspaper by this abolitionist became his "meat and drink."
What is The Liberator? or Who is William Lloyd Garrison?
The literary element used here: "It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass."
What is metaphor?
Unmoved by persuasion, pity, or tenderness
What is obdurate?
As a child, when Douglass witnessed the brutal torture of this person, he said it was the "blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which [he] was about to pass."
Who is Aunt Hester?
While enslaved by Edward Covey, Douglass laments, "You are freedom's swift-winged angels, that fly round the world; I am confined in bands of iron! O that I were free!" This sight makes him feel both depressed at his enslavement and inspired to try for freedom.
What are the sailing ships on the Chesapeake Bay?
By preventing further instruction in reading and writing, Douglass's master, Hugh Auld, teaches him this more important information.
What is that learning to read and write is the key to a slave's freedom?
The syntactical element used in Douglass's introduction to the story of the greatest turning point of his life: "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."
What is chiasmus?
Showing reverence to God and religious duty; virtuous
What is pious?
This slave holder became more cruel and barbaric after converting to Christianity, often using Biblical Scripture to justify his torture of his slaves.
Who is Captain Thomas Auld?
The skill that Douglass learns as an apprentice on Baltimore's shipyards.
What is calking (caulking) or sealing the seams between planks on a ship to make them watertight?
Douglass writes, "If any one thing in my experience, more than another, served to deepen my conviction of the infernal character of slavery, and to fill me with unutterable loathing of slaveholders, it was" this.
What is "their base ingratitude to my poor old grandmother"?
This stylistic technique is used to demonstrate the transformation of Douglass's mistress, Sophia Auld:
"That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon."
What is juxtaposition?
These vocabulary words are opposites, the first meaning harmony and the second meaning lack of it.
What are accord and discord?