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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 staywith 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 thefield.2 Work, work, work, was scarcely more the orderof the day than of the night,3 The longest days weretoo short for him, and the shortest nights too longfor him.4 I was somewhat unmanageable when I firstwent there, but a few months of this disciplinetamed me. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. Iwas broken in body, soul, and spirit. My naturalelasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, thedisposition to read departed, the cheerful spark thatlingered about my eye died;5 the dark night of slaveryclosed in upon me;6 and behold a man transformedinto a brute!

Sunday was my only leisure time. I spent this ina sort of beast-like stupor, between sleep and wake,under some large tree. At times I would rise up, aflash of energetic freedom would dart through mysoul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, thatflickered for a moment, and then vanished.7 I sankdown again, mourning over my wretched condition.I was sometimes prompted to take my life, and thatof Covey, but was prevented by a combination ofhope and fear. My sufferings on this plantation seemnow like a dream rather than a stern reality

Repetition

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.

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“Work, work, work, was scarcely more the orderof the day than of the night.”

Chiasmus

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.

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“The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him.”

Metaphor

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“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.

Parallelism

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.

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“My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died…”

Imagery

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.

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“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”

Repetition

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.

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“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.”

Personification

“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.

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“…the dark night of slavery closed in upon me;”

Annotation 8

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Annotation 9

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Dregs

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1. dregs, the sediment of liquids; lees; grounds.

2. Usually, dregs. the least valuable part of anything: the dregs of society.

Chiasmus

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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.

Rhetorical Term

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Vocabulary

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Vocabulary

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Term and definition