Question

A city slaved is a almost freeman,compared with a slave on the plantation.He is much better fed and clothed,and enjoy privileges all together unknown to slave on the same plantation.There is vestige of decency,a sense of shame that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation, he is desperate slaveholder,who will shock he humanity of his non-slaveholder neighbors with the cries of his lacerated slave. How did Douglas fell.

In the given text, Frederick Douglass describes the conditions of a city slave compared to a plantation slave. How did Douglas feel about the city slave's situation?
a) Envious
b) Sympathetic
c) Indifferent
d) Critical

Answer 1

Frederick Douglass was likely sympathetic towards the conditions of city slaves, understanding the oppression they faced despite the slightly better treatment compared to plantation slaves. His writings depict the moral conflicts slavery imposed on White slaveholders and highlight the harsher conditions rural slaves endured compared to city slaves.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the text provided, Frederick Douglass highlights the differences in the conditions of slaves in the city versus those on the plantation, noting that city slaves were better off comparatively. Douglas likely felt sympathetic towards the situation of the city slave, recognizing that while they were treated somewhat better than plantation slaves, they were still not free and faced many indignities and cruelties inherent to the institution of slavery. The brutal and dehumanizing conditions faced by slaves on the plantations and the slightly improved but still oppressive conditions of city slaves elicited a deep abhorrence of the institution of slavery in Douglass, who used his narrative to advocate for abolition and highlight the moral degradation of slaveholders and the American society that permitted such an institution.

Slavery brought significant moral complications for White slaveholders in the South, as Douglass points out, using imagery of familial betrayal and violence where White fathers would sell their own children born of enslaved women, reflecting the dehumanizing nature of the institution itself.

When comparing rural life under slavery to experiences in the city, enslaved individuals in rural areas faced harsh conditions and fewer privileges, thereby leading to a much more oppressive existence compared to those who were enslaved in the city.