Group Members

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Group Members

• Emme Toombs
• Jabriah Stevens
• Mikey Atkinson
• Aidan Ryan

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Passage Chapter 11 Page 135-137
I have been frequently asked how I felt when I
found myself in a free State. I have never been
able to answer the question with any satisfaction
to myself. It was a moment of the highest
excitement I ever experienced. I suppose I felt
as one may imagine the unarmed mariner to feel
when he is rescued by a friendly man-of-war from
the pursuit of a pirate. In writing to a dear
friend, immediately after my arrival at New York,
I said I felt like one who had escaped a den of
hungry lions.1 This state of mind, however,
very soon subsided and I was again seized with a
feeling of great insecurity and loneliness. I was
yet liable to be taken back, and subjected to all
the tortures of slavery. This in itself was
enough to damp the ardor of my enthusiasm. But
the loneliness overcame me. There I was in the
midst of thousands, and yet a perfect stranger
without home and without friends, in the midst of
thousands of my own brethrenchildren of a common
Father, and yet I dared not to unfold to any one
of them my sad condition.2 I was afraid to
speak to any one for fear of speaking to the
wrong one3, and thereby falling into the hands
of money-loving kidnappers, whose business it was
to lie in wait for the panting fugitive, as the
ferocious beasts of the forest lie in wait for
their prey.4 The motto which I adopted when I
started from slavery was this"Trust no man!" I
saw in every white man an enemy, and in almost
every colored man cause for distrust. It was a
most painful situation and, to understand it,
one must needs experience it, or imagine himself
in similar circumstances. Let him be a fugitive
slave in a strange landa land given up to be the
hunting-ground for slaveholderswhose inhabitants
are legalized kidnapperswhere he is every moment
subjected to the terrible liability of being
seized upon by his fellowmen, as the hideous
crocodile seizes upon his prey!I say, let him
place himself in my situationwithout home or
friendswithout money or creditwanting shelter,
and no one to give itwanting bread, and no money
to buy it,and at the same time let him feel that
he is pursued by men-hunters, and in total
darkness as to what to do, where to go, or where
to stay,perfectly helpless both as to the means
of defence and means of escape5,in the midst
of plenty, yet suffering the terrible gnawings of
hunger,in the midst of houses, yet having no
home,among fellow-men, yet feeling as if in the
midst of wild beasts, whose greediness to swallow
up the trembling and half-famished fugitive is
only equalled by that with which the monsters of
the deep swallow up the helpless fish upon which
they subsist6,I say, let him be placed in this
most trying situation,the situation in which I
was placed,then, and not till then, will he
fully appreciate the hardships of, and know how
to sympathize with, the toil-worn and
whip-scarred fugitive slave. 7
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Annotation 1
I suppose I felt as one may imagine the unarmed
mariner to feel when he is rescued by a friendly
man-of-war from the pursuit of a pirate. In
writing to a dear friend, immediately after my
arrival at New York, I said I felt like one who
had escaped a den of hungry lions.

• In this passage, the multiple similes used by
  Frederick Douglass helps emphasize the emotions
  he felt when he was freed from the chains of
  slavery. I felt like one who had escaped a den
  of hungry lions, is a very powerful simile used
  to describe how he felt after being free and the
  true horror of slavery. By comparing slavery and
  his slavers to lions clearly shows the utter
  horror one feels as a slave.

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Annotation 2
This in itself was enough to damp the ardor of
my enthusiasm. But the loneliness overcame me.
There I was in the midst of thousands, and yet a
perfect stranger without home and without
friends, in the midst of thousands of my own
brethrenchildren of a common Father, and yet I
dared not to unfold to any one of them my sad
condition.

• The use of irony in this passage truly helps show
  how Frederick is feeling even after he has
  escaped slavery. He is still lonely even when he
  is surrounded by thousands of people. And that
  irony truly lets you understand how alone he
  truly is. He has no friends and no family and
  even when he surrounded by many people he still
  feels an emptiness loneliness.

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Annotation 3
I was afraid to speak to any one for fear of
speaking to the wrong one,

Parallel structure is used to create emphasis on
how Frederick Is afraid to speak to anyone
because he is in fear of being forced back into
slavery. The double use of the word speak and
one is the parallel aspect of this quote.
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Annotation 4
and thereby falling into the hands of
money-loving kidnappers, whose business it was to
lie in wait for the panting fugitive, as the
ferocious beasts of the forest lie in wait for
their prey.

• The use of metaphor in this passage helps the
  reader to understand Fredericks fear and
  paranoia even after he was technically freed from
  slavery. Because he escaped he could still be
  recaptured. By referring to the kidnappers as
  ferocious beasts and him as prey its
  understandable why Douglass felt terrified and
  hopeless.

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Annotation 5
I say, let him place himself in my
situationwithout home or friendswithout money
or creditwanting shelter, and no one to give
itwanting bread, and no money to buy it,and at
the same time let him feel that he is pursued by
merciless men-hunters, and in total darkness as
to what to do, where to go, or where to
stay,perfectly helpless both as to the means of
defence and means of escape.

• The choppy syntax and usage of hyphens helps
  create a panic sounding tone, showing how
  paranoid he is over possibly being captured and
  put back into slavery.

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8
Annotation 6
in the midst of plenty, yet suffering the
terrible gnawings of hunger,in the midst of
houses, yet having no home,among fellow-men, yet
feeling as if in the midst of wild beasts, whose
greediness to swallow up the trembling and
half-famished fugitive is only equalled by that
with which the monsters of the deep swallow up
the helpless fish upon which they subsist,

• This is a metaphor for the people that will
  recapture him possibly. He refers to them as wild
  beasts and monsters of the deep, that will
  swallow up helpless fish which he refers to as
  himself.

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9
Annotation 7
I say, let him be placed in this most trying
situation,the situation in which I was
placed,then, and not till then, will he fully
appreciate the hardships of, and know how to
sympathize with, the toil-worn and whip-scarred
fugitive slave.

• The use of imagery in this passage helps create a
  sense of sympathy and helps the reader be
  empathetic towards Frederick during the novel.

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Rhetorical term
A simile (/'s?m?li/) is a figure of speech that
directly compares two things through the explicit
use of connecting words (such as like, as, so,
than, or various verbs such as resemble).
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Rhetorical Term
Irony Irony (from Ancient Greek e????e?a
(eironeía), meaning "dissimulation, feigned
ignorance"1), in its broadest sense, is a
rhetorical device, literary technique, or event
characterized by an incongruity, or contrast,
between what the expectations of a situation are
and what is really the case, with a third
element, that defines that what is really the
case is ironic because of the situation that led
to it. Irony may be divided into categories such
as verbal, dramatic, and situational.
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Rhetorical Term
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that
identifies one thing as being the same as some
unrelated other thing, thus strongly implying the
similarities between the two. It is therefore
considered more rhetorically powerful than a
simile.
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Rhetorical Term
Parallel Structure In grammar, parallelism, also
known as parallel structure or parallel
construction, is a balance within one or more
sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have
the same grammatical structure
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Rhetorical Term
Syntax- studies of the rules for forming
admissible sentences the grammatical arrangement
of words in sentences
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Vocabulary
Mariner- A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer
is a person who navigates waterborne vessels or
assists as a crewmember in their operation and
maintenance.
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Vocabulary
Brethren Brethren is a name adopted by a wide
range of mainly Christian religious groups
throughout history which do not necessarily share
historical roots, including some of the earliest
primitive churches
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Vocabulary
Merciless- without mercy having or showing no
mercy pitiless cruel
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