Douglass Chapter 7

[elizabeth.smith.24]

"Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in everything. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm" (268)

Analysis will be up in a bit.

[sian.barry]

Purpose:

Firstly, the purpose was for Douglass to relate how Mrs. Auld's angelic and kindred personality drastically changes with the little bit of irresponsible power she gains in owning a slave for the first time. However, this chapter also allows the reader to witness how Frederick Douglass came to hate the institution of slavery and depicts how he learned to write, even after Mrs. Auld stopped teaching him. 

[rippeyrachel]

"I have no doubt that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed" (268)

In this quote Douglass uses syllepsis to fully express the seriousness of his conscience when recognizing the issue of slavery, and how ignorant the other slaves were to the issue and to the idea of freedom. He began to detest those he enslaved him, because he understood finally, how inhumane the issue of slavery was.  

[elizabeth.smith.24]

Using antithesis, Douglass tells the reader of his newfound idea of freedom and the ways in which everything now has something to do with the idea of freedom. Douglass admits to the fact that he knows the idea of freedom will never leave until he gains it and that it is present in every sound, scene, feeling. He even personifies freedom in saying that it smiles at him, looks at him, moves towards him, and breathes into his ear with every wind. The point Douglass is trying to make is that the quest for freedom will now basically control his life until he becomes free.

On Monday, October 15, 2012 4:02:32 PM UTC-4, elizabeth.smith.24 wrote:

[grace miller]

"Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of the tiger-like fierceness."

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[grace miller]

"Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of the tiger-like fierceness."

In using personification, Douglas uses the concept of slavery to not only strip slaves of being considered a human but it also strips slave owners of their only respect that they had for the slaves and strips their goodness and forces them to treat the slaves like animals. H also uses terms like 'lamblike disposition' and 'tiger-like fierceness' as total opposites which i also saw as ironic because the slaves are always the ones being treated like animals but this time compared slave owners  actions to that of animals.

[orionfarr]

"But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon."

This excerpt both explains how severe of a change that Douglass' mistress had gone through, and presents an Antithesis by comparing her kindness and "sweet accord" to the "horrid discord. Douglass was able to capture the landslide of a change in her behavior in this quote.

[brook...@gmail.com]

"I had writhed under it, I had sometimes felt learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It has given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy.  It had opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out" (Douglass 268).

Frederick Douglass had spent much of his time and effort as a slave to educate himself in as many clever ways as he could accomplish, and with this being done, he contemplated if he has legitimately corrupted his existence or not. To become intelligent as a slave, was being trapped in a world surrounded by ignorance. And using this metaphor, Frederick Douglass explains this fate. He uses the surrounding ignorance of other slaves, and the assumption of ignorance by his slaveholders and other white people high above him, as a "horrible pit." He is trapped in his own intelligence, with no possible escape out of his world of ignorance. Not only is this passage a supporting metaphor, this predicament Douglass had found himself in was a form of a paradox - not only is he trapped in his intelligence, he is trapped in all else's ignorance. 

On Monday, October 15, 2012 4:02:32 PM UTC-4, elizabeth.smith.24 wrote:

[Mikaela Litchfield]

"The bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me more valuable bread of knowledge" (266-267)

Douglass uses syllepyous to describe his process of extracting information on how to read from the white boys that lived in Baltimore. He refers to the bread as the literal, edible food and then again as something metaphorical. His purpose of doing so is to demonstrate that knowledge, just like food, is something essential and needed to survive. 

On Monday, October 15, 2012 4:02:32 PM UTC-4, elizabeth.smith.24 wrote:

[jamiemelville1]

"Sheridan's mighty speeches...I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance."

This quote is both  powerful, and relatable, in a sense, as Frederick Douglass utilizes all three of personification, metaphor, and metonymy. I think metonymy is most conspicuous, substituting "tongue" for a word such as "words." He suggests in this quote that reading these speeches incited his thoughts and gave words to things he subconsciously knew, but could not define them. He claims that these thoughts, he has always had, but they go away because he cannot find words to match the feelings, but these speeches were those words, which I think people can relate to with something of a quote or excerpt that speaks to that person specifically. It is significant because it sort of sheds a light on this literary aspect of life and all that it can bring Douglass, which encourages Frederick to continue, and to crave, to learn.

[Julie Daniels]

“It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm” (268).

In this chapter, Frederick is introduced to the hope of an escape and he explains how the small fact is always haunting his thoughts. This soon becomes all Frederick can think about while taking over his mind. In this quote, the author uses personification of the natural elements to further emphasize how the thought is always there lingering. It also stresses that no matter where he turns, the possibility of escape from this life will always be there waiting for him. 

On Monday, October 15, 2012 4:02:32 PM UTC-4, elizabeth.smith.24 wrote:

[stephen.voc]

"The first step had been taken.  Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell" (266).

Douglass cleverly makes these statements to indicate to the reader that his urges to continue to learn were not only foreseen but even natural.  By alluding to a statement made by his master in Chapter 6 of the Narrative, Douglass ironically seems to rebel against his master's original cliché (which used the term "nigger") by agreeing with it.  After learning the alphabet, Douglass had the sweet taste of knowledge and desired to take advantage of it by learning even more, and in this regard, Douglass proves that his master's prediction was indeed true.  However, this is ironic because Douglass listens to his master and takes the ell in order to rebel against him in the end and pursue his dream of becoming free.

On Monday, October 15, 2012 4:02:32 PM UTC-4, elizabeth.smith.24 wrote:

[katherine...@gmail.com]

"I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery" (268)

In this passage, Douglass uses polysyndeton to emphasize what exactly the slave traders did to his people. The use of this particular rhetorical device emphasizes the fact that not only did these men leave their own homes, but then invaded his homeland, and then took them from their homes, and on top of that, reduced a race of people to slavery. The repetition of the word "and" stresses the number of atrocities that the slave traders committed. By saying this, Douglass also uses the appeal to pity, because he wants the reader to feel bad about the fact that slaves had been taken from their homes, to a strange new land, then forced to work in awful conditions. His way of phrasing this sentence makes the actions of the slave traders much more dramatic in order to highlight the truly awful nature of it all.

On Monday, October 15, 2012 4:02:32 PM UTC-4, elizabeth.smith.24 wrote:

[Alexandra Chin]

"It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast" (268)!

Using figurative language and imagery Douglass describes he descent into knowledge where the more he knows the more awful the world seems to be. This passage also alludes to the proverb "Ignorance is bliss" as he envies those around him for being ignorant to the true gravity of what is happening to them which is the heinous crime of enslavement. Douglass also compares knowledge to a pit that is impossible to climb out of unless one has a clear defined way out.