Chiasmus

Sorry for the delay of my post, but I want to share a quote I found that to me is an example of chiasmus:
"[Captain Auld] was a slaveholder without the ability to hold slaves." In my copy it's on page 50, but it can be found in Chapter 9.

This quote stuck out to me as I was reading it because it just seemed so odd at first. It's hard for me to think, with all that I have learned about slavery, that there was a slaveholder who was not "born" for the part. I think that the idea of having someone who owned slaves but had really no idea how to do so is absurd to me. After seeing this quote, I thought more about it and realized that it wasn't such an odd idea after all. No one is born into being a certain way, but it is a matter of developing into such behaviors. Unless someone is born into wealth, they don't always hold the personality of someone who is rich when money comes into possession. It's like Douglass explains, Captain Auld was not born into a family that had slaves. This way, it's easier to understand how he did not seem to have the ability to "hold slaves."

The Appendix

"Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds, faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love and justice, for success in my humble efforts, and solemnly pledging myself anew to the sacred cause, I subscribe myself..."
(Page 163 in my edition)

I just find it extremely intriguing that Douglass utilizes the words truth, love, and justice in the final paragraph of his narrative. Truth, love, and justice were ideals that he never knew during slavery. He would have been beaten for telling the truth. He was separated from those he loved on almost every occasion, and, of course, he never knew justice. He witnessed injustices almost every day. I personally feel as if Douglass believes that these three words are laws of life, laws to live by. I think that Douglass taught himself to believe in truth, love deeply, and treat others justly even though he never knew these aspects of life while growing up in servitude. I guess these three words are rhetorical in and of themselves, because Douglass escaped the bonds of slavery, and only then was he able to believe in the powers of truth, love, and justice.

Can you think of any ideals and values that you hold now that you did not hold as a child? How did you learn to believe in these ideals? What caused a change in the way you thought about the world?

~Megan
Have a great weekend everyone!!!

A Perspective

from bell hooks: Feminist Theory from Margin to Center: "Living as we did - on the edge - we developed a particular way of seeing reality. We looked both from the outside in and from the inside out. We focussed our attention on the center as well as the margin. We understood both."

Chiasmus: Definition and Examples

Chiasmus: Another definition with examples.

A rhetorical figure in which elements are presented in the order ABBA. It's named for the Greek letter chi (which looks like an "X"). The "X" suggests the crossing that characterizes the figure. Some examples:
This man I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords.
[On The Beggar's Opera, a fabulously successful play written by John Gay and produced by John Rich:] It made Gay rich and Rich gay.
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
We can see the chiasmus in the last example (with "country" and "you") if we lay it out this way (in clumsy ASCII art, but I'm too lazy to work up a graphic):
Ask not what your country can do for you,
\ /
\ /
\ /
X
/ \
/ \
/ \
but what you can do for your country.
Chiasmus doesn't have to be the same words: it's often the same parts of speech in ABBA order. Here's Milton:
Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace. (PL 7.216)
Notice it's imperative-vocative, vocative-imperative — or, if that's unclear, "Do something, you; you, do something."
A chiasmus can get even more complicated: not only ABBA, but ABCCBA. Consider Genesis 9:6:
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.
Notice shed-blood-man, man-blood-shed: ABC, CBA.

from Jenna Payton via APS

From Fredderick Douglass chap #10 pg #110:

"He asked me what I wanted. I told him, to let me get a new home; that as sure as I lived with Mr. Covey again, I should live with but to die with him; that Covey would surely kill me; he was in a fair way for it. Master Thomas ridiculed the idea that there was any danger of Mr. Covey; that he was a good man, and that he could not think of taking me from him; that, should he do so, he would lose the whole year's wages; that I belonged to Mr. Covey for one year, and that I must go back to him, come what might; and that I must not trouble him with any more stories, or that he would himself get hold of me."

Example of "chiasmus" because it shows Douglass' personal crossing of making a change while dealing with his enslavement. Even though Douglass is still a slave, his living and safety conditions have been questioned.
See you tomorrow!

from Jessica Stewart via APS

- How weather played a part in a memory that you have. Memory and weather linked? 9/16
- 9/18 Prompt: Most traumatic experience, and how it shaped you. The most traumatic experience of my life has been the death of my mother. The things that I saw and encountered were very eye-opening. This has made me take on a different perspective on life than I had before. There were a lot of things that I saw that made me realize that we are human and that we do not live forever

Chiasmus

"He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well."

This chiasmus was on Page 66.

Chiasmus Fun!

I tried so hard--but I failed at finding one in the second half of the text!
Here is my chiasmus from page 66 "To be accused was to be convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished; the one always following the other with immutable certainty."

Douglass Memoir

"...I was, however, somewhat indebted to the society of my fellow slaves. They were noble souls; they not only possessed loving hearts, but brave ones. We were linked and interlinked with each other. I loved them with a love stronger than any thing I have experienced since." pg. 121 Ch. 10

Examples of Chiasmus

"They were frequently whipped when least deserving, and escaped whipping when most deserving it." (Page 60, Chapter III)

"He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man." (Page 65, Chapter IV)

This passage is describing Mr. Gore, a new overseer, who "was artful, cruel, and obdurate." (Page 65)

Chiasmus in "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"

"He recieved all the benefits of slaveholding without its evils; while I endured all the evils of a slave..."

This is on page 109 in my book... which is different from everyone else's... so, it's in Chapter XI in the fourth paragraph (which is very long - this quote is sort of near the beginning). Douglass is discussing how his owner took Douglass's wages but did so in a way that he believed was not doing anything wrong; so, the owner did not feel guilt for taking the money Douglass earned on his own.

Favorite Word

My favorite word is Pulchritudinous! It means beautiful and it comes from the latin word "pulcher" which also means beautiful. I love this word because pulchritundious certainly does not sound like something beautiful. I also think I love this word because it is one of the few words I remember from 5 years of latin.... Its a nice word...