Response to Douglass Post

You chose a great passage. It's an ideal length to read closely, and you've got a lot of elements in there to work with. 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. Yes, goodThe 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. By "interchanging" these words, I think you mean that he sets up parallel sentences; this certainly shows the futility of their efforts, yes. 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. Nice point 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," Remember--the ideal man is strong and sensitive 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. It's interesting to me, too, that he uses "brute," because he does use the word "tamed." It's clear he's resisting taking the animal comparison too far. Excellent job with this one, Michael.