In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”, a line that stuck out to our group was on page 17, when Douglass, talking about Mr. Covey, says “Such was his cunning that we used to call him, among ourselves, “the snake”.
First off, I love the visual and sensory image of this sentence. I can picture Mr. Covey slithering through the grass, hiding until he is close enough to strike. Comparing him to a snake makes the fear the slaves are feeling very relatable. I know the feeling of seeing one slither by you unexpectedly, and so I can relate to that not only visually.
This line helps show the transition Frederick goes through in terms of standing up for himself and regaining his pride. When Frederick starts resisting Covey’s attempts to whip him, it is apparent in the writing that he is no longer as afraid of him. On page 21, Frederick says “The truth was, that he had not whipped me at all. I considered him as getting entirely the worst end of the bargain; for he had drawn no blood from me, but I had from him. “From these lines, I get the sense that now Frederick is the snake, particularly because he drew blood.
This is again apparent a few lines down, when Frederick says “No,…you need not; for you will come off worse than you did before” in reply to Covey’s future abusive habits. This time, Frederick is the attacker, and not Covey.
I also agree on how rich the visuals are in this text. It’s a coincidence that we were both struck by the same lines as well. I had the image of Mr. Covey slithering across his lands like a snake too, like literally wiggling his body across the grass. It was a funny image and made me laugh out loud a bit. I love how powerful this narrative is even though it was just a small portion from the actual narrative. But I wouldn’t have described Fredrick as an “attacker” at the end. Attacker just sounds too negative of a word. Instead, maybe the phrase, “no longer prey”? He’s also a survivor but I think that word fits best in the very end when he becomes as free man.
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