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Explore the harsh realities of slavery through the powerful words of Frederick Douglass, depicting the grueling work, the loss of hope, and the transformation of a man into a brute.

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  1. Group Members • Jordan Hummel • Bryce Gordon • Conner Reed

  2. Passage Chapter: 10 Page: 58 If at any one time of my life more than another, I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery,1. that time was during the first six months of my stay with Mr. Covey. We were worked in all weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard for us to work in the field.2Work, work, work, was scarcely more the order of the day than of the night,3 The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him.4 I was somewhat unmanageable when I first went there, but a few months of this discipline tamed me. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died;5the dark night of slavery closed in upon me;6and behold a man transformed into a brute! Sunday was my only leisure time. I spent this in a sort of beast-like stupor, between sleep and wake, under some large tree. At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, and then vanished.7 I sank down again, mourning over my wretched condition. I was sometimes prompted to take my life, and that of Covey, but was prevented by a combination of hope and fear. My sufferings on this plantation seem now like a dream rather than a stern reality

  3. Repetition “Work, work, work, was scarcely more the order of the day than of the night.” This part of the passage, Frederick Douglas perfectly displays the repetition of the continuous cycle of work of the slaves. This quotation also emphasizes the fatigue endured by the slaves in their daily duties. Finally represents the fast paced life of a slave. Return to passage

  4. Chiasmus “The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him.” This Chiasmus reverses the phrases “short for him” and “too long for him” to represent his dissatisfaction of the fact that Mr. Covey doesn’t believe that everything is accomplished that he wants to due to his perception of how long the days and nights are compared to what he wants to be accomplished in that day. The Chiasmus also represents the quantity of work required to do in a day is so much that it can’t be accomplished while they have long nights. Return to passage

  5. Metaphor “I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery…” Frederick Douglas uses this metaphor to represent that he was in the lowest point in his entire life. The metaphor represents that he himself acknowledges that he was made to drink (consume, endure, withstand) the hardest of hardships that slaves encounter. At this point in his he accepts that he was broken by Mr. Covey. The metaphor also represents that slaves are the least valuable people in society. Return to passage

  6. Parallelism “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died…” Douglas uses parallelism through the repeated use of negative past tense verbs in the sentence in order to emphasize that this was the moment when Douglas broke. The negative verbs constantly describe how his life was depleting. Return to passage

  7. Imagery “At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, and then vanished” Frederick Douglass uses the imagery of light to represent his hope of freedom. The light vanished just as quickly as it appeared, portraying how quickly his hope of freedom disappeared. This connects to the theme of slavery by revealing how fast opportunities of hope and freedom come and go. Return to passage

  8. Repetition “It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard for us to work in the field.” The repetition of too emphasizes the extremity of the conditions that the slaves faced every day. No matter what weather occurred, the slaves would still have to work everyday in barely any clothing, even in the winters. This connects to the cruelty and horrid conditions endured by the slaves each and every day. Return to passage

  9. Personification “…the dark night of slavery closed in upon me;” “The dark night of slavery” is being personified by giving it the ability to close upon Frederick Douglass. He is trying to get across that the worst parts of slavery have cornered him. The darkness of the light consumed him. This connects to the theme of how slavery consumes people and their will to live as well. Return to passage

  10. Annotation 8 Copy and paste portion of passage discussed in this slide here Return to passage

  11. Annotation 9 Copy and paste portion of passage discussed in this slide here Return to passage

  12. Annotation 10 Copy and paste portion of passage discussed in this slide here Return to passage

  13. Annotation 11 Copy and paste portion of passage discussed in this slide here Return to passage

  14. Dregs 1. dregs, the sediment of liquids; lees; grounds. 2. Usually, dregs. the least valuable part of anything: the dregs of society. Return to passage

  15. Chiasmus Chiasmus is a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect. Return to passage

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