11/23 - Douglass

High, middle, and low all are utilized in turn to create the highly manipulative effect that Fredrick Douglass is going for. The first sentence, “I lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years,” is the low beginning of a story-teller in a rocking chair, contrasting with his ecstatic hypotaxis as he talks about reading an essay by Sheridan. He varies his diction, using words like, “commenced,” instead of, “began,” and repeating words here and there, perhaps so as not to seem too educated to a largely white audience. (While his audience’s members probably believed in abolition, they were usually skittish about what would happen if it were successful.) He says he “succeeded” at learning to read and write, which immediately connotes pride in accomplishment. That would not be communicated by the word “learned,” with its connotations of having been taught. Douglass describes having to sneak and con his way into a relationship with the written word, often fearing peril.

When Douglass writes, he uses multiple descriptors, often intensifying the description with the second. “...in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband...” The stakes are raised as “direction” follows “advice” in the description of the husband’s behavior. It creates the impression that at first he only advised her, but then had to direct her, furthering the portrayal of Mistress Hugh as someone being warped by having a slave. “Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.” (There are references to religious imagery and William Blake’s poem, “Tiger,” but that’s another story.) Douglass suddenly turns the lyricism of his earlier description of Mistress Hugh against her, with slavery as the cause.