ELLEN BEAUDRY, INDU BASTAKOTI, AND FAIVRE JUNE

Passage Chapter: 8 Page:43-44

We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. [1] There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination.[2] Silvery-headed age and sprightly youth, maids and matrons, had to undergo the same indelicate inspection. At this moment, I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder.

After the valuation, then came the division. I have no language to express the high excitement and deep anxiety which were felt among us poor slaves during this time. [3] Our fate for life was now to be decided. we had no more voice in that decision than the brutes among whom we were ranked. A single word from the white men was enough—against all our wishes, prayers, and entreaties—to sunder forever the dearest friends, dearest kindred, and strongest ties known to human beings. [4] In addition to the pain of separation, there was the horrid dread of falling into the hands of Master Andrew. He was known to us all as being a most cruel wretch,—a common drunkard, who had, by his reckless mismanagement and profligate dissipation, already wasted a large portion of his father's property. We all felt that we might as well be sold at once to the Georgia traders, as to pass into his hands; for we knew that that would be our inevitable condition,—a condition held by us all in the utmost horror and dread.

I suffered more anxiety than most of my fellow-slaves. I had known what it was to be kindly treated; they had known nothing of the kind. [5] They had seen little or nothing of the world. They were in very deed men and women of sorrow, and acquainted with grief. Their backs had been made familiar with the bloody lash, so that they had become callous; mine was yet tender; for while at Baltimore I got few whippings, and few slaves could boast of a kinder master and mistress than myself; and the thought of passing out of their hands into those of Master Andrew—a man who, but a few days before, to give me a sample of his bloody disposition, took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from his nose and ears—was well calculated to make me anxious as to my fate. [6][7] After he had committed this savage outrage upon my brother, he turned to me, and said that was the way he meant to serve me one of these days,—meaning, I suppose, when I came into his possession.

ANNOTATION 1

This sentence is an excellent example of parallelism. By using this rhetorical device, Fredrick Douglass created a sense of unity, which showed how everyone had become equals, under the rules of Southern society.

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Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine.

ANNOTATION 2

This sentence is an excellent example of parallelism. By using this rhetorical device, Fredrick Douglass created a sense of unity, which showed how both man and beast had become equals, under the yoke of slavery.

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There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination.

Annotation 3

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“I have no language to express the high excitement and deep anxiety which were felt among us poor slaves during this time.”

Antithesis:Douglass uses antithesis to illustrate the depth and breadth of emotions to describe the confusion among the slaves who were being evaluated for their worth during the valuation. The range of emotions that the slaves were experiencing were contrasting and related because of the polarity that could result from the valuation. The strength was shown by having such a distance between “high” and “deep”.

ANNOTATION 4

The use of parenthesis created a subtle effect, because the sentence is torn in two just like how the slaves relationships were torn asunder.

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A single word from the white men was enough—against all our wishes, prayers, and entreaties—to sunder forever the dearest friends, dearest kindred, and strongest ties known to human beings

ANNOTATION 5

This sentence contains word play which provides the reader an increased opportunity of knowledge with the same number of words and gives them a chance to interpret it for themselves.

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I had known what it was to be kindly treated; they had known nothing of the kind.

ANNOTATION 6

This is a notable example of verbal irony, because he had said that he had a kind master and mistress, but they still whipped him, which as his intended audience would agree, is not very kind.

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Their backs had been made familiar with the bloody lash, so that they had become callous; mine was yet tender; for while at Baltimore I got few whippings, and few slaves could boast of a kinder master and mistress than myself

ANNOTATION 7

The contrast in the behavior and Master Andrew’s cold emotions is quite startling. He is needlessly attacking a boy whom one can assume is less than sixteen and is seeing it as a way to frighten the boy’s older brother without any sense of remorse for harming an innocent child.

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…Master Andrew—a man who, but a few days before, to give me a sample of his bloody disposition, took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from his nose and ears—was well calculated to make me anxious as to my fate.

RHETORICAL TERM

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Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter.

RHETORICAL TERM

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Antithesis, literal meaning opposite, is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. Antithesis emphasizes the idea of contrast by parallel structures of the contrasted phrases or clauses

RHETORICAL TERM

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Parenthesis: consists of a word, phrase, or a whole sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of another sentence.

Rhetorical Term

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Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that may end up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference between the appearance and the reality.

VOCABULARY

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Profligateadjectiverecklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources. nouna licentious, dissolute person.

VOCABULARY

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YokeNounOppression burden and bondage. It is based off the piece of farmer’s equipment which is used to bind to oxen together while they work.

VOCABULARY

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Dissipationnoun1.dissipated living.2.squandering of money, energy, or resources.