Lives of Commitment: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Question 7 • PA-Common Core ELA 8 Q1
Read this excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.My home was charmless; it was not home to me; on parting from it, I could not feel that I was leaving any thing which I could have enjoyed by staying. My mother was dead, my grandmother lived far off, so that I seldom saw her. I had two sisters and one brother, that lived in the same house with me; but the early separation of us from our mother had well nigh blotted the fact of our relationship from our memories. I looked for home elsewhere, and was confident of finding none which I should relish less than the one which I was leaving. If, however, I found in my new home hardship, hunger, whipping, and nakedness, I had the consolation that I should not have escaped any one of them by staying.
Answer
A
Friendships with brothers and sisters are the only cheerful part of life on this harsh plantation.
B
Children are separated from parental figures, and sibling relationships are not encouraged.
C
When young children seek the comforts of home, they often travel with their siblings.
D
Enslaved children visit their parents and grandparents on neighboring plantations when they travel.