Slave Narratives Essay Planning

• the motif of masks
• bread / food?
• religion?

something to do with ubiquity of experience corrupting nature of slavery depiction of slavery?

• contrast depiction of slavery in both texts
  • slavery as abstract
  • slavery as corrupting
  • slavery as satanic / demonic
• only do slavery as corrupting
  • douglass: slavery corrupts slave owers
  • jacobs: slavery corrupts slaves

3.) Douglass/Jacobs: Compare and contrast a selected passage from each autobiography. What are the literary and/or rhetorical tools that each author employs and how do those techniques contribute to a larger argument/purpose of their narratives?

• slavery is corrupting
• j: corrupts all that it touches
  • talks about it systemically
    • exertion of unjust power
• d:

while both use analogous structure to describe the corrupting power of slavery, Douglass focuses on the individual while Jacob's focusses on the systemic

• douglass structure:

douglass -> individual -> jacobs -> systemic ->

douhlas -> specific tale jsacobs -> generalizes

d -> individual -> individual corruption j -> systemic -> ubiquitous corruption (generalized d)

mention of crime

1. D> Cause explicit, J> Cause barely mentioned, assumed
   1. only allowed to be assumed when it is general
2. D> effect is that he becomes a brute/is corrupted J> effect is that everyone is corrupted
   1. generalize where the corruption goes
3. D> Effect follows from specific cause, suggesting that changing that cause will mitigate that effect J> Cause (application of unjust authority) permeates the society. Events are merely the means by which that cause plays out. The apparent causes are symptoms of the real cause. And the effects (being negative) are inevitable because of the permeating nature of slavery.
   1. d> causality is individual
   2. j> causality is systemic
      1. generalizing causality

• p1: generalize causes
  • cause is explicit
    • "We were worked in all weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard for us to work in the field. Work, work, work, was scarcely more the order of the day than of the night. The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him." - douglass
  • cause barely mentioned
    • "The white daughters early hear their parents quarrelling about some female slave. Their curiosity is excited, and they soon learn the cause." - jacobs
• p2: generalize effects
  • individual effect
    • "I was somewhat unmanageable when I first went there, but a few months of this discipline tamed me. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"
  • general effect
    • "No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery."
    • "The slaveholder's sons are, of course, vitiated, even while boys, by the unclean influences every where around them."
• p3: generalize causality
  • causality is individual
  • causality is systemic
    • "Nor do the master's daughters always escape. Severe retributions sometimes come upon him for the wrongs he does to the daughters of the slaves. The white daughters early hear their parents quarrelling about some female slave. Their curiosity is excited, and they soon learn the cause. They are attended by the young slave girls whom their father has corrupted; and they hear such talk as should never meet youthful ears, or any other ears. They know that the women slaves are subject to their father's authority in all things; and in some cases they exercise the same authority over the men slaves."
    • "If they are girls, I have indicated plainly enough what will be their inevitable destiny."

• prompt: 3 Douglass/Jacobs: Compare and contrast a selected passage from each autobiography. What are the literary and/or rhetorical tools that each author employs and how do those techniques contribute to a larger argument/purpose of their narratives?
  • passages: Douglass 356, Jacobs 461-462
• intro
  • hook sentence
  • background info
  • thesis
    • While both Douglass and Jacobs explore the corrupting nature of slavery, Douglass condemns slavery by focusing on his personal experiences whereas Jacobs generalizes experiences, moving the condemnation of slavery from the specific to the systemic.
• p1
  • sub claim 1: While Douglass details specific causes for corruption, Jacobs writes with causes barely mentioned and assumed – something only possible when operating in the context of the general.
    • Evidence 1:
      • Contextual information to orient the reader: Douglass writing about his time with Mr. Covey and how he was transformed into a brute
      • Quotation and Citation: "It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard for us to work in the field. Work, work, work, was scarcely more the order of the day than of the night. The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him. […] Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me."
        • Analysis Layer 1
          • In describing the process of his corruption, Douglass uses:
            • a cumulative sentence
            • containing asyndeton ("rain, blow, hail..")
            • followed by repetition of the word "work,"
            • and antithesis ("longest days were too short")
          • He ends with first person description and a name
        • Analysis Layer 2
          • Uses these literary techniques to create an overwhelming yet individual and specific sense of the cause of corruption -> placing cause on the individual (Mr. Covey), and operating within the context of his own experience
          • {not doing..}
    • Evidence 2:
      • Contextual information to orient the reader: Jacobs writing about the corrupting power of slavery
      • Quotation and citation: "The white daughters early hear their parents quarrelling about some female slave. Their curiosity is excited, and they soon learn the cause. They are attended by the young slave girls whom their father has corrupted; and they hear such talk as should never meet youthful ears, or any other ears."
        • Analysis Layer 1
          • Corruption of the general "white daughters" is explained in third person
          • Doesn't mention "the" cause, and refers to it as as a certainty
        • Analysis Layer 2
          • Contrasts heavily with Douglass's detailed and lengthy cumulative sentence description of causality
          • Doesn't mention the cause because she doesn't need to – it's known and assumed
            • Combined with third person to show how she is operating at a general and systemic level rather than an individual one
• p2
  • transition + sub claim 2: Following Jacobs generalization of cause is her generalization of effect; while Douglass writes of the corruption he underwent, Jacobs writes of the ubiquitous corruption inherent to the system of slavery.
  • Evidence 1:
    • Contextual information to orient the reader: Douglass writes about the effect of Mr. Covey's actions, his corruption.
    • Quotation and citation: "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"
    • Analysis Layer 1
      • Douglass once again uses
        • a cumulative sentence
        • combined with asyndeton
    • Analysis Layer 2
      • Immense depth and specificity to the description of effect, matching the description of cause
      • Effect is personal and individual, not general and systemic.
  • Evidence 2
    • Contextual information to orient reader: Jacobs writing about the effects of slavery
    • Quotation and citation: "No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery. […] The slaveholder's sons are, of course, vitiated, even while boys, by the unclean influences every where around them."
    • Analysis Layer 1
      • Describes slavery's corruption as all-pervading
        • Corrupting influence is "every where"
      • Uses the language "of course" to describe the corruption of the white boys
    • Analysis Layer 2
      • The effect – corruption – is systemic and ubiquitous across all people within the system of slavery
        • The system of slavery itself has its influences "every where" and is enough to corrupt
        • Represents the effect corruption, given the system of slavery, as obvious, well known, and unavoidable
• p3
  • transition + sub claim 3: Having generalized both cause and effect, Jacobs goes on to generalize the connection between them: causality itself.

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qs

• missed:
  • Exemplary: Thesis statement and analysis are clearly expressed and reflect nuanced, interpretative complexities of each work. Evidence reflects breadth and depth of argument.
  • Exemplary: Writing structures serve context and intention effectively. Ideas build on each other in a sustained, coherent manner. Appropriate and varied transitions clarify relationships among evidence and claims to generate cohesion and fluidity.
• went through and address all your comments,
  • focused on specificy in relation between close reading and idea
  • and on fluidity and transitions
  • would this fufill those final two rubric items, and if not, what would i need to do in order to fufill them?
• when can you meet about the other essay?