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 slaves 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
  overseers 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
  days 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

noun A state in which things that are essential for human well-being such as food and warmth are scarce or lacking.
Return to passage
11
Vocabulary
Return to passage