Question

Read the passage.

"The smiles of my mistress could not remove the deep sorrow that dwelt in my young bosom. Indeed, these, in time, came only to deepen my sorrow. She had changed; and the reader will see that I had changed, too. We were both victims of the same overshadowing evil . . ."

What is the “overshadowing evil” in this passage from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass?

slavery

Mr. Auld

ignorance

illiteracy

Answer 1

The answer for this passage is slavery

Answer 2

Answer: slavery.

In this excerpt, Douglass is describing the treatment he received from his mistress. While before she used to treat him as an equal, she had now changed, and came to treat him as an inferior. However, Douglass argues that this behaviour was a natural consequence of their situation. They were both victims of the system of slavery: Douglass as a slave, and she as a mistress.