Frederick Douglass Passage Analysis

1. Frederick Douglass Passage Analysis Devon Jones, Alex Nolte, Eric Panuela, and Shea Sandifer

2. Chapter 2, Paragraph 4 There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. [1] This, however, is not considered a very great privation. They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep [2]; for when their day's work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending, and cooking to do, and having few or none of the ordinary facilities for doing either of these, very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed,—the cold, damp floor,—each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets [3]; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver's horn. [4] At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field. There must be no halting; every one must be at his or her post; and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field; [5] [6] for if they are not awakened by the sense of hearing, they are by the sense of feeling: no age nor sex finds any favor. Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate as not to hear, or, from any other cause, was prevented from being ready to start for the field at the sound of the horn. [7]

3. Annotation 2 They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep • Douglass uses antithesis to establish the true extent of the slave’s discomfort through that the already existing poor sleeping conditions were compounded by the time they had to spend working. Return to passage

4. Annotation 3 . . . and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed,—the cold, damp floor,—each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets . . . • The parallel structure with its contrasting examples (“old and young”) is used to demonstrate that all slaves are treated the same at the end of the day. • The imagery that follows (“cold,” “damp,” “miserable”) illustrated the slaves’ tortuous existence. Return to passage

5. Annotation 1 There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. • This sentence introduces the idea of the slaves’ terrible conditions with a sarcastic tone not found elsewhere in the passage. The commas in the sentence separate ideas, each of which add on to the previous idea. The first part (“there were no beds given to the slaves”) is serious, but the second part (“unless one coarse blanket be considered such”) add sarcasm as it mocks the idea of poor-quality blankets being considered beds. Finally, the third section of the sentence (“and none but the men and women had these [blankets]”) shows the reader that the situation is even worse than he implied, as not everyone has the blankets that he was previously mocking. Return to passage

6. Annotation 5 …and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field… • The unusual ordering of the words (“who hear not…”) and the formal diction (“woe betides them,” “summons”) create a sense of the sentence being a proclamation, illustrating the overseer’s oppression. Return to passage

7. Annotation 6 At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field. There must be no halting; every one must be at his or her post; and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field… • The numerous commas and semicolons reflect the sense of urgency this section of the passage is trying to create. • Diction such as “summons,” “rise,” “be off,” and “no halting” further add to the urgency. Return to passage

8. Annotation 7 Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate as not to hear, or, from any other cause, was prevented from being ready to start for the field at the sound of the horn. • The threatening diction characterizes Mr. Severe as a intimidating, violent, and cruel overseer. Emphasizing that he is “armed” with weapons that are “large” and “heavy” displays his intimidation. Furthermore, the phrase “ready to whip” demonstrates his violence. Finally, adding that he whips the “unfortunate” slaves who were “prevented from being ready” shows his cruelty. Return to passage

9. Annotation 4 They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep; for when their day's work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending, and cooking to do, and having few or none of the ordinary facilities for doing either of these, very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed,—the cold, damp floor,—each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver's horn. • Syntactic permutation (a sentence with extraordinarily complex or involved structure) is used to demonstrate the amount of difficulties, the long extent of time necessary to complete the day’s tasks, and the continuous nature of the tasks (when one task is completed, the slaves have to start another). Return to passage

10. Vocabulary Privation: Return to passage

11. Vocabulary Return to passage