Exploring the Text

1. “My father was a white man,” abruptly states Frederick Douglass (par. 3). Were you startled or surprised by that statement? Explain.

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - “My father was a white man,” abruptly states Frederick Douglass (par. 3). Were you startled or surprised by that statement? Explain.
2. What appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos does Douglass make in the first few paragraphs? Which one is most prominent?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - What appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos does Douglass make in the first few paragraphs? Which one is most prominent?
3. Of the whipping he observed, Douglass writes, “It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it” (par. 8). Read the paragraph carefully. How successfully do you think Douglass has committed his feelings to paper? Explain.

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - Of the whipping he observed, Douglass writes, “It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it” (par. 8). Read the paragraph carefully. How successfully do you think Douglass has committed his feelings to paper? Explain.
4. Chapter 2 begins with a description of Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. What is your impression of the conditions there?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - Chapter 2 begins with a description of Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. What is your impression of the conditions there?
5. Douglass writes of Mr. Hopkins: “He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. He was called by the slaves a good overseer” (par. 16). How would you describe Douglass’s tone in that statement? What does it suggest about the relationship between slaves and their masters?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - Douglass writes of Mr. Hopkins: “He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. He was called by the slaves a good overseer” (par. 16). How would you describe Douglass’s tone in that statement? What does it suggest about the relationship between slaves and their masters?
6. Douglass writes, “I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear” (par. 19). Ralph Waldo Emerson (p. 590), in his 1841 essay “Circles,” states, “The field cannot be well seen from within the field.” Douglass seems to be elaborating on Emerson’s metaphor. What is the nature of the appeal that Douglass makes with this reference? How does the remark aid the reader’s understanding of Douglass’s situation?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - Douglass writes, “I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear” (par. 19). Ralph Waldo Emerson (p. 590), in his 1841 essay “Circles,” states, “The field cannot be well seen from within the field.” Douglass seems to be elaborating on Emerson’s metaphor. What is the nature of the appeal that Douglass makes with this reference? How does the remark aid the reader’s understanding of Douglass’s situation?
7. In Chapter 3, what is the chief irony that Douglass develops regarding slaves?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - In Chapter 3, what is the chief irony that Douglass develops regarding slaves?
8. How does Douglass use rhetorical strategies to characterize Mr. Gore in the second and third paragraphs of Chapter 4? (Consider such features of style and rhetoric as juxtaposition, antithesis, antimetabole, contrasts, irony, and parallelism.)

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - How does Douglass use rhetorical strategies to characterize Mr. Gore in the second and third paragraphs of Chapter 4? (Consider such features of style and rhetoric as juxtaposition, antithesis, antimetabole, contrasts, irony, and parallelism.)
9. Douglass states, “Mr. Gore’s defence was satisfactory” (par. 28). What is the effect of that understatement?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - Douglass states, “Mr. Gore’s defence was satisfactory” (par. 28). What is the effect of that understatement?
10. From your reading of the first four chapters, what is your overall impression of Douglass’s life as a slave? Be specific.

    Question

    Exploring the Text: - From your reading of the first four chapters, what is your overall impression of Douglass’s life as a slave? Be specific.