Answer:
Douglass describes how granting enslaved people time off at the holidays allows masters to maintain control over them the rest of the year.
Step-by-step explanation:
Situational irony is the term that refers to a situation where something is expected to happen, but what happens is exactly the opposite. An example of this can be seen when Douglass shows that when slaves were given a day off, on holidays, they thought it meant a little freedom and less work, but it meant an increase in the power of white people over black people, already that this break gave you the freedom to keep control over them for the rest of the year.