M.C.: Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

The main purpose of the passage is to:

• Document the mistreatment of slaves by slave masters

• Argue how the treatment of slaves is far worse in the South than in the North

• Support the idea that slave owner's children are impervious to their father's behavior

• Present the experience of slaves from many perspectives

• Contend that slavery as an institution destroys both slave owners and slaves alike

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.3

CCSS.RI.11-12.6

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

The rhetorical function of the personification of the lash and foul talk in lines 3-4 is:

• to show the cruelty of the masters

• to show he viciousness of the master's sons

• to show the "all-pervading corruption produced by slavery"

• to show the powerlessness of slave girls

• to mirror the personification of the pen in the first line

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.6

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.6

The rhetorical function of the syntax of the last two sentences of the paragraph (lines 7-11) is:

• the short sentence at the end serves as an answer to the question posed in the longer sentence before it

• the longer sentence mirrors the line that listed the men that could exert power over the slave girl

• the longer sentence presents the list of evidence to the claim presented in the final sentence

• the last sentence serves as a transition from discussing the slave girl to discussing the slave owner's children

• the short sentence at the end shows the finality of her conclusion regardless of the options described in the longer sentence before it

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

In context, the word "vitiated" in line 15 most nearly means:

• made ineffective

• invalidated

• corrupted

• devalued

• buoyed

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.4

CCSS.L.11-12.5

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

The anecdote in paragraph two (lines 15-33) is mainly meant to illustrate:

• the cruelness of the fathers

• the violence of the sons

• the contamination of the daughters

• the wretchedness of the wives

• the degradation of the slaves

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

The tone of the line: "And as for the colored race, it needs an abler pen than mine to describe the extremity of their sufferings, the depth of their degradation" (43-44) can best be described as:

• Modest

• Forthright

• Skeptical

• Laudatory

• Penitent

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.6

The thesis of the passage is most clearly stated in the following line:

• "No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." (lines 1-2)

• "The slave girl is reared in an atmosphere of licentiousness and fear." (lines 2-3)

• "I can testify, from my own experiences and observation, that slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks." (lines 39-41)

• "And as for the colored race, it needs to an abler pen than mine to describe the extremity of their sufferings, the depth of their degradation." (lines 43-43)

• "Yet few slaveholders seem to be aware of the widespread moral ruin occasioned by this wicked system." (lines 45-46)

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

All of the following words are used figuratively except:

• blight (line 47)

• cage (line 39)

• storm (line 32)

• pen (lines 1 and 43)

• souls (line 47)

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.5

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

The tone of the final paragraphs (lines 48-51) can best be described as:

• inflammatory

• condescending

• apprehensive

• ominous

• cynical

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.5

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

The passage uses all of the following strategies except:

• Provocative diction

• Figurative language

• First-person accounts of experiences and observations

• Inclusion of verse

• Expert testimony

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4