1. Group Members Anne Saba Yuzhu Shi Daniel Rivkin Mark Kreynovich

2. Passage Chapter: FourPage: 26-28 Mr. Gore was proud, ambitious, and persevering. He was artful, cruel, and obdurate. 1 He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man. 2 It afforded scope for the full exercise of all his powers, and he seemed to be perfectly at home in it. He was one of those who could torture 3 the slightest look, word, or gesture, on the part of the slave, into impudence, and would treat it accordingly. There must be no answering back to him; no explanation was allowed a slave, showing himself to have been wrongfully accused. Mr. Gore acted fully up to the maxim laid down by slaveholders,—"It is better that a dozen slaves should suffer under the lash, than that the overseer should be convicted, in the presence of the slaves, of having been at fault." No matter how innocent a slave might be—it availed him nothing, when accused by Mr. Gore of any misdemeanor4. To be accused was to be convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished 5; the one always following the other with immutable certainty. To escape punishment was to escape accusation; and few slaves had the fortune to do either, under the overseership of Mr. Gore. He was just proud enough to demand the most debasing homage of the slave, and quite servile enough to crouch, himself, at the feet of the master. He was ambitious enough to be contented with nothing short of the highest rank of overseers, and persevering enough to reach the height of his ambition. He was cruel enough to inflict the severest punishment, artful enough to descend to the lowest trickery, and obdurate enough to be insensible to the voice of a reproving conscience. 6 He was, of all the overseers, the most dreaded by the slaves. His presence was painful; his eye flashed confusion; and seldom was his sharp, shrill voice heard 7, without producing horror and trembling in their ranks.123 impudence45debasing homage67

3. Annotation 1 Douglass starts off the passage with parallel structure to portray Gore’s cruelty. The similarity of the two back-to- back sentences gives off the effect that the list is unending and shows that the two sentences are equal importance. parallel structure Return to passage “Mr. Gore was proud, ambitious, and persevering. He was artful, cruel, and obdurate.”

4. Annotation 2 Douglass uses chiasmus to illustrate how Mr. Gore mirrors the plantation with his cruelty.chiasmus The plantation fosters Gore’s hardline personality and allows him to express it while simultaneously contributing to the brutal aspects of slavery. Return to passage “He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man.”

5. Annotation 3 Return to passage “He was one of those who could torture the slightest look, word, or gesture, on the part of the slave, into impudence, and would treat it accordingly.” The use of the word “torture,” which has a connotation of malice, contributes to the overall poor condition of the slaves. In the sentence, “torture” means to stretch, but Douglass chooses “torture” because it has a bigger effect on the reader and furthers the point that Mr. Gore is villainous. connotation

6. Annotation 4 The use of parenthesis (the hyphen) replicates the effect of Mr. Gore on the slaves’ lives. It messes with the purity of the sentence just like Gore creates crime from the innocence of the slave. This contributes to the portrayal of the injustices done to the slaves.parenthesis Return to passage “No matter how innocent a slave might be—it availed him nothing, when accused by Mr. Gore of any misdemeanor.”

7. Annotation 5 The use of anadiplosis accentuates the inevitable connection between being accused and being punished. The repetition of “convicted” provides a transition and link between the two, demonstrating the unfair treatment of the slaves.anadiplosis Return to passage “To be accused was to be convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished…”

8. Annotation 6 Return to passage “He was just proud enough to demand the most debasing homage of the slave, and quite servile enough to crouch, himself, at the feet of the master. He was ambitious enough to be contented with nothing short of the highest rank of overseers, and persevering enough to reach the height of his ambition. He was cruel enough to inflict the severest punishment, artful enough to descend to the lowest trickery, and obdurate enough to be insensible to the voice of a reproving conscience.” Douglass employs parallelism in this passage to better characterize Mr. Gore by depicting him as a bold, and neglecting man, while ironically submissive to his own superiors. Beginning each sentence with the same phrasing engrains an understanding of the qualities expressed into the reader. This is reference to the beginning of the passage as it mentions the same qualities, and the parallel structure emphasizes how all of these qualities are part of the overall personality of Gore.parallelism

9. Annotation 7 The alliteration of the “s” sound produces a sinister effect and a harsh sound, which represents Gore’s personality and the malevolence he shows towards the slaves.alliteration Return to passage “His presence was painful; his eye flashed confusion; and seldom was his sharp, shrill voice heard, without producing horror and trembling in their ranks.”

10. Parallelism Return to passage Sentences and/or phrases are expressed with similar grammatical structure

11. Chiasmus Return to passage Two corresponding pairs arranged in inverted order (a-b-b-a) rather than in parallels

12. Anadiplosis Return to passage Repetition of the last word of one line to begin the next

13. Parenthesis Return to passage Word or phrase inserted as in aside in the middle of a sentence

14. Connotation Return to passage Meaning associated with a word (not the literal meaning)

15. Alliteration Repetition of sounds beginning words

16. Vocabulary Return to passage Impudence- disobedience or disrespect towards authority

17. Vocabulary Return to passage Debasing- humiliating Homage- respect, reverence