Douglass’s purpose in this excerpt is to explain his discovery of abolition. He describes his curiosity and the process of trying to understand what the term meant and the context in which it was used, illustrating his growing awareness of the concept and its significance in relation to slavery.
Read the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
I was eager to hear any one speak of slavery. I was a ready listener. Every little while, I could hear something about the abolitionists. It was some time before I found what the word meant. It was always used in such connections as to make it an interesting word to me. If a slave ran away and succeeded in getting clear, or if a slave killed his master, set fire to a barn, or did any thing very wrong in the mind of a slaveholder, it was spoken of as the fruit of abolition. Hearing the word in this connexion very often, I set about learning what it meant. The dictionary afforded me little or no help. I found it was "the act of abolishing;" but then I did not know what was to be abolished. Here I was perplexed.
Douglass’s purpose in this excerpt is to
argue against abolition.
explain his discovery of abolition.
teach the history of abolition.
define the word “abolition.”
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