Assignment
Identify one symbol in the passage below (e.g., “blood-clotted cowskin“). After selecting a symbol, you should write an essay that unveils the connotative value of the chosen symbol in the context of Douglass’s Narrative. So, you will need to read the narrative closely in order to identify themes, incidents, or even other symbols in the text that are illuminated by the symbol you have selected from the below passage . The aim of this analysis is to enrich your reader’s (and your own) understanding of Douglass’s Narrative. Prepare an outline for the essay and frame a thesis statement (claim) that will serve as an organizing principle for the analysis. Highlight your thesis and begin every paragraph with a topic sentence. No secondary sources (e.g. Lit Charts) are allowed for this analysis; you should rely solely on the assigned text, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. Any material traced to a secondary source would be considered plagiarism and may lead to a grade of zero on the assignment.
Passage
“The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin. I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it. I never shall forget it whilst I remember anything. It was the first of a long series of outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass.”
(Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself)
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