1st PUC ENGLISH NOTES - FREDERICK DOUGLASS - 2 MARKS / 3 MARKS / 4 MARKS - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1st PUC ENGLISH NOTES - FREDERICK DOUGLASS - 2 MARKS / 3 MARKS / 4 MARKS - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
10 FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Answer the following
questions 2 Marks Questions
1. Who was Frederick Douglass?
Ans:
Frederick Douglass was a slave who escaped and became a famous writer and
speaker for the freedom of slaves.
2. Why didn’t Douglass feel
sad at his mother’s death?
Ans:
Because he was separated from her in infancy and met her only a few times
during the night.
3. What does Douglass say
about his birth date?
Ans:
Douglass did not know his exact birth date because slave owners did not record
slaves' birth dates.
4. Who was Harriet Bailey?
Ans:
Harriet Bailey was Frederick Douglass’s mother, who worked as a field slave far
from him.
5. Why were mulatto children
disliked by white mistresses?
Ans:
Because they suspected their husbands fathered them and showed special
attention to them.
6. What did Mr. Plummer do to
slaves?
Ans:
Mr. Plummer, the overseer, cruelly whipped slaves and was a drunk and a violent
man.
7. How often did Douglass see
his mother?
Ans:
He
saw her only four or five times at night, and she returned before sunrise.
8. What was done to children
born to slave women?
Ans:
They automatically became slaves, no matter if their father was white or black.
9. What did Douglass witness
happen to his aunt?
Ans:
He saw her tied and brutally whipped till blood ran down her back.
10.
Why did slaveholders separate children from mothers?
Ans:
To break natural bonds and prevent emotional attachments that could weaken
slavery.
Answer the following
questions 3 Marks Questions
1. Why didn’t Douglass know
his exact age?
Ans:
Douglass didn’t know his birth date because slave owners never recorded slaves'
births. He only knew he was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland. It was common for slave
children to not know their age because masters wanted to keep them ignorant.
They used seasons or farming times like planting time or harvest time to guess
birthdays. When Douglass asked his master about his age, he was scolded. This
lack of basic identity like birth date reflects how the system of slavery
treated human beings as property without emotions or dignity.
2. What kind of relationship
did Douglass have with his mother?
Ans:
Douglass had a very distant relationship with his mother. She was separated
from him soon after birth, a common practice in slavery. She worked twelve
miles away and only visited him at night when he was asleep. She had to leave
before sunrise to avoid punishment. He saw her only a few times, and each visit
was short. Because of this, he did not develop any emotional bond. When she
died, he was not allowed to see her. He didn’t feel deep sorrow, which shows
how slavery destroyed family ties and human emotions.
3. Describe how mulatto
children were treated.
Ans:
Mulatto children were born to black slave women and white men, often the
masters themselves. These children suffered more than others. White mistresses
disliked them and treated them cruelly, especially if they suspected their
husbands favored them. Such children were beaten more often. Masters sometimes
sold them to avoid family shame or to avoid punishing their own biological
children. This unfair and cruel treatment shows how slavery was not only
physically abusive but also emotionally damaging, especially to children.
Douglass himself was believed to be the son of his white master.
4. How were female slaves
treated in Frederick Douglass’s life?
Ans:
Female slaves suffered both physically and emotionally. They were made to work
hard in the fields and were often abused. They were separated from their
children and were used by white men to satisfy lust. Douglass describes how his
aunt was brutally whipped, stripped, and tied to a joist. He saw her bleeding
from her wounds. Such punishment was common and showed no respect for their
dignity or humanity. They were also used to produce more slaves. Douglass’s
mother walked miles just to see him at night and return before morning.
5. What role did Mr. Plummer
play in the slaves’ lives?
Ans:
Mr. Plummer was the overseer under Douglass’s master, Captain Anthony. He was a
cruel and wicked man. He often whipped slaves mercilessly. Douglass recalls how
Mr. Plummer whipped his Aunt Hester severely, tying her up and lashing her back
until it bled. Mr. Plummer was also a drunkard and swore all the time. He
enjoyed punishing the slaves. His behavior showed the brutality and inhumanity
of the slave system. He represents the kind of power and control white men had
over slaves, treating them worse than animals without any justice or sympathy.
Answer the following
questions 4 Marks Questions
1. Describe the suffering of
slaves as shown in Frederick Douglass’s autobiography.
Ans:
Frederick Douglass presents a painful and honest picture of slavery. Slaves did
not know their birth dates and were denied any family bonding. Douglass was
separated from his mother as a baby and saw her only four or five times. When
she died, he did not feel sadness because there was no emotional connection.
Slaves, including children, were often whipped and abused by their owners and
overseers. Douglass saw his aunt being tied and beaten until her back bled.
Women slaves had to work hard in the fields and were treated like property.
Many were used for the pleasure of white masters. Children born to them became
slaves too. Mulatto children had an even harder life. They were disliked by
white mistresses and beaten more. Some masters even sold their own children to
avoid embarrassment. The overseer, Mr. Plummer, was cruel and violent. He beat
slaves for pleasure. Slavery, Douglass shows, was more than physical suffering.
It destroyed families, emotions, and self-respect. Yet, Douglass remained
strong and believed that slavery could not keep him down forever. His story is
a voice for all those who suffered in silence and a call for justice and
freedom.
2. Explain the childhood
experiences of Frederick Douglass as a slave.
Ans:
Frederick Douglass’s childhood was filled with pain and emotional suffering. He
was born into slavery in Maryland and never knew his exact birth date. His
mother was separated from him shortly after birth, and he only saw her a few
times, at night. She had to walk twelve miles to meet him and return before
sunrise. He didn’t even see her when she died. This destroyed any emotional
bond between them. He didn’t know who his father was, though it was commonly
believed to be his white master. This made his position worse, as mulatto
children were often disliked by white mistresses and beaten more harshly. He
witnessed cruel acts, such as his Aunt Hester being tied and whipped until she
bled. The overseer, Mr. Plummer, was a cruel drunk who enjoyed punishing
slaves. Douglass grew up in fear and pain, with no love, identity, or rights.
Yet, through all of this, he kept hope and faith that he would one day be free.
His experiences as a child reveal how slavery destroyed not only the body but
also the soul. His story is a powerful voice against slavery and a symbol of
human strength.
3. What does Frederick
Douglass tell about his mother in ‘Frederick Douglass’?
Ans: The strong sense of regret lies in the
fact that he did not know who his father was and that he was separated from his
mother as an infant. What makes the situation worse is that there is the common
speculation that his father is a white man, and that his master is his father.
He knows that his mother was a black woman named Harriet Bailey from whom he
was separated because it was the common custom in that part of Maryland that
the children were thus separated from their mothers, hindering the natural bond
between the mother and the child. He had seen his mother only four or five
times when she met him after walking twelve miles from Mr. Stewart’s place
where she worked as the field hand. She had to be back in the field before the
sunrise if she had to escape the penalty of whipping from the slave master.
This left the mother and child very little time and scope for communication.
The sad outcome of this is that when he lost her when he was around seven, he
didn’t feel the usual emotions of sorrow. The sudden death of the mother put an
end to whatever chance the author had of knowing who his father was. Thus, we
see that a slave child ¡s an emotionally deprived child.
4.
The details given by Frederick Douglass about the life of
slaves depict the painful and harsh experiences of the slaves. Do you agree?
Give reasons for your answer.
OR
Describe the
suffering of the Slaves in the hands of whites in ‘Frederick Douglass’.
OR
Describe
the childhood experiences of Frederick Douglass as a slave.
Ans: Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was
an American slave, born in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped slavery and went
to New York, where he changed his name to Frederick Douglass and worked for the
emancipation of slaves until his death. This lesson is an excerpt from his
autobiography and presents a graphic account of the cruel and inhuman suffering
of the slaves. The slaves lived a very painful and miserable life in the
custody of their slave masters. No slave had any accurate knowledge of his age
because their slave masters never maintained an authentic record of the dates
of birth of the slaves in their custody because they wanted to keep the slaves
ignorant about their age. Consequently, the slaves were able to only recall a
day nearer a season of the year like planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time,
spring-time or fall-time.
Frederick narrates the circumstances of his birth and a few details about his parentage. Frederick was a mulatto child born to a white father and a black mother. His mother was a slave and his father was his master. As was the common custom in those days, Frederick, the infant, was separated from his mother even when he was an infant, not even twelve months old and was placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labour. In such instances, the mother was taken away from the child and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off. Frederick says that he does not remember to have seen his mother not more than five times in his life and each of these times was very short in duration and at night. His mother was hired by Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from his home. She used to go to Frederick’s house in the night travelling on foot, lie down with her child, get him to sleep and would go back to her master’s house before dawn. His mother died when he was about seven years old. Frederick was not allowed to be present during her illness and at her death or burial. Frederick narrates another cruel and barbarous practice. The slaveholders had made a rule that the children of slave women irrespective of whether they were born to white or black fathers, should in all cases follow the condition of their mothers. This gave the slaveholders opportunities to not merely gratify their lustful desires but also make a profit out of it. Frederick says that mulatto children, despite being born to white fathers, suffered greater hardships than black slave children born to black parents, because mulatto children were a constant source of offence and displeasure to their white mistresses. It was common for the wives of white masters to find fault with mulatto children. They would be normally happy to see mulatto children lashed especially when they suspected that their husbands were showing special favours to his mulatto children. This being the fact, many white masters used to sell their mulatto slaves only out of sympathy for them so that they would be spared the trouble of whipping their own children or stand by and watch one white son tie up his brother and lash him with a whip. Frederick narrates an incident which highlights how inhumane and cruel slave masters were. Frederick Douglass had two masters — Captain Anthony and his overseer Mr. Plummer whom he describes as a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer and a savage monster. He used to take sadistic pleasure in whipping a slave Frederick recalls how, once he saw his own aunt, a slave tied to a joist being whipped on her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. Thus, Frederick Douglass’ autobiography depicts the painful and harsh experiences of the slaves.
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