FD: Close Reading

Frederick Douglas, P. 38
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"...Work, work work was scarcely more the order of the day than the night. The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him. I was somewhat unmanageable when i first went there, but a few months of this discipline tamed me. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"

The first thing i notice about this passage is the repetion Douglas uses with, "Work, work, work". This repetion shows the demanding attitude many whites had toward slaves. The second thing i notice is how he interchanges the words, "long," and, "short." Interchanging these words shows that no matter what the slaves did, reward was never the outcome. These attitudes masters had compliment each other in the first and second sentences. The next thing I notice is the personification when he uses the word, "Tamed." This is used to show how the masters treated the slaves like animals and not like equals. The Metaphor of, "breaking me," is using pathos to invoke sorrow in the reader. The Age of Reason now comes into play with the broken, "body, soul, and spirit." The, "body," shows the diminishing of the physicality and strength of manhood, the ,"soul," shows the lessening of education, and the, "spirit," shows the dampening of religion. The Contrasting imagery of the, "spark that lingered about my eye," and the, "night of slavery," gives readers the chance to see the contrast between happiness and the life of a slave. This is also persuasion through pathos. Finally, ending with, "transformed into a brute," shows a turning point in his life of hope to a life of unhappiness.