Frederick Douglass-1st PUC Textbook Questions Answers-Detailed Solution For Chapter 10-Frederick Douglass-Class Series

Frederick Douglass-1st PUC Textbook Questions Answers-Detailed Solution For Chapter 10-Frederick Douglass-Class Series

Comprehension-I

 1)What prevented the slaves from knowing their birthday? 

Answer : The slaves were separated from their mother when they were infants and hence lost the chance of getting information about their birth. Thus this prevented the slaves from knowing their birthday. 

2)How would the master look at the enquiries about the slaves birthday? 

 Answer : The master considered the enquires  improper and impertinent and evidence of a restless spirit.

3)What was whispered about Douglass’s parentage?

 Answer : It was whispered that Douglass's master was his father.

4)When was Douglass separated from his mother?

Answer : Douglass was separated from his mother when he was just twelve month old.

5)Douglass mother was able to meet him only at _____

Answer : Night.

 6)What was the penalty to the field hand for not being in the field at sunrise? 

Answer : Whipping was the penalty to the field hand for not being in the field at sunrise.

7)How old was Douglass when he lost his mother?

Answer : Douglass was seven years old when he lost his mother.

8)Name the person who was believed to be both Douglass father and master.

Answer : Captain Anthony was believed to be both Douglass father and master. 

9)What was Mr. Plummer?

Answer : Mr. Plummer was an overseer who supervised the farms and slaves of his Master Captain Anthony. He was a miserable drunkard, profane swearer and a savage monster. 

Comprehension-II

1)Why wasn’t Douglass affected much by his mother’s death? 

Answer : This question is extracted from our chapter 'Frederick Douglass' and it is written by 'Frederick Douglass' itself. Douglass was not affected much by his mother’s death because he was separated from his mother when he was just twelve months old, this was done too obviously to administer to slave holder’s own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable. He saw his mother hardly for four or five times in his life and each of these times was very short in duration and at night she was hired by Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles. She made her journeys to see him in the night travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work. She was a field hand, and a whipping was the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise. He recollects of never seeing his mother by the light of day, she was with him in the night. But long before he woke she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between them. She died when he was about seven years old, on one of his master’s farms, near Lee’s Mill. Fredrick was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death or burial.

Comprehension-III

1. What kind of hardships did the slaves suffer at the hands of the slave holder and his mistress? 

Answer : This question is extracted from our chapter 'Frederick Douglass' and it is written by 'Frederick Douglass' itself.  Frederick Douglass was born in February 1817 on the eastern shore of Maryland. His autobiographical works are My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass(1881). His mother, from whom he was separated at an early age, was a slave named Harriet Bailey. She named her son Fredrick Augustus Washington Bailey. He never knew exactly who his father was. He was forced to work hard and suffered cruel treatment while working on the property of Captain Aaron Anthony. The hardships faced by the slaves at the hands of the slave holder and their mistress were unexplainable. They were not allowed to know their ages or about their parents Infants were separated from their slave mother before they knew she was their mother. The slave holders were inhuman and showed extraordinary barbarity in dealing with the slaves. They would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. Mr. Anthony, the slave holder and his overseer, Mr. Plummer who was a miserable drunkard, profane swearer and a savage monster, always went around armed with a cow skin and a heavy cudgel. He used to cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty. Mulatto (person with one black  parent and one white parent) children were the great sufferers. They were in the first place, a constant offence to their mistress. She was ever disposed to find fault with them; they could seldom do anything to please her; she was never better pleased than when she saw them under the lash, especially when she suspected her husband of showing to his mulatto children favors which he withheld from his black slaves. The master was frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife; and cruel as the deed may strike any one to be, for a man to sell his own children to human flesh-mongers, it was often the dictate of humanity for him to do so; for, unless he did this he must not only whip them himself, but must stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but few shades darker complexion than himself, and ply the gory lash to his naked back; and if he lisped one word of disapproval, it was set down to his parental partiality, and only made a bad matter worse both for himself and the slaves whom he would protect and defend.

2. How does the passage comment on the dreadful experience of slavery?

Answer : This question is extracted from our chapter 'Frederick Douglass' and it is written by 'Frederick Douglass' itself.  Frederick Douglass was born in February 1817 on the eastern shore of Maryland. His autobiographical works are My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass(1881). His mother, from whom he was separated at an early age, was a slave named Harriet Bailey. She named her son Fredrick Augustus Washington Bailey. He never knew exactly who his father was. He was forced to work hard and suffered cruel treatment while working on the property of Captain Aaron Anthony. The hardships faced by the slaves at the hands of the slave holder and their mistress were unexplainable. They were not allowed to know their ages or about their parents Infants were separated from their slave mother before they knew she was their mother. The slave holders were inhuman and showed extraordinary barbarity in dealing with the slaves. They would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. Mr. Anthony, the slave holder and his overseer, Mr. Plummer who was a miserable drunkard, profane swearer and a savage monster, always went around armed with a cow skin and a heavy cudgel. He used to cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty. Mulatto (person with one black  parent and one white parent) children were the great sufferers. They were in the first place, a constant offence to their mistress. She was ever disposed to find fault with them; they could seldom do anything to please her; she was never better pleased than when she saw them under the lash, especially when she suspected her husband of showing to his mulatto children favors which he withheld from his black slaves. The master was frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife; and cruel as the deed may strike any one to be, for a man to sell his own children to human flesh-mongers, it was often the dictate of humanity for him to do so; for, unless he did this he must not only whip them himself, but must stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but few shades darker complexion than himself, and ply the gory lash to his naked back; and if he lisped one word of disapproval, it was set down to his parental partiality, and only made a bad matter worse both for himself and the slaves whom he would protect and defend.

(Note: The answer for 1st & 2nd question is one and same) 

3.In spite of the hardships he suffered as a slave, why does the author say, “Slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul embrace?

Answer : This question is extracted from our chapter 'Frederick Douglass' and it is written by 'Frederick Douglass' itself. Frederick Douglass was born in February 1817 on the eastern shore of Maryland. His autobiographical works are My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass(1881). His exact date of birth remains unknown. His mother, from whom he was separated at an early age, was a slave named Harriet Bailey. She named her son Fredrick Augustus Washington Bailey. He never knew exactly who his father was. He was forced to work hard and suffered cruel treatment while working on the property of Captain Aaron Anthony. The hardships faced by the slaves at the hands of the slave holder and their mistress were unexplainable. They were not allowed to know their ages or about their parents Infants were separated from their slave mother before they knew she was their mother. The slave holders were inhuman and showed extraordinary barbarity in dealing with the slaves. They would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. Mr. Anthony, the slave holder and his overseer, Mr. Plummer who was a miserable drunkard, profane swearer and a savage monster who always went around armed with a cow skin and a heavy cudgel. He used to cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty. The author expresses his dreadful childhood. Experience of slavery as how he was a wakened at the dawn of the day by the most heart-rending shrieks of his aunt, who was whipped by her master till she was literally covered with blood? No words, no tears, no prayers, from the victim seemed to move the iron heart, the louder she screamed the harder he whipped and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make scream and whip her make her hush. In spite of the hardships, he suffered as a slave, he firmly believed in God, Even in the darkest hours of his career in slavery, the living word of faith and spirit of hope did not depart from him. His optimism showed light at the end of the tunnel; hence he has a deep conviction that slavery would not always hold him, within its foul embrace.

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