A Passage from "Up From Slavery" by Booker T. Washington
In the following writing piece, I chose a passage from my outside reading, Up From Slavery, and break it down by it's elements, explaining how the author expresses the element throughout the passage.
Examing an passage from Up From Slavery by Bookter T. Washington
The most trying ordeal that I was forced to endure as a slave boy, however, was the wearing of a flax shirt. In the portion of Virginia where I lived it was common to use flax as part of the clothing for the slaves. That part of the flax from which our clothing was made was largely the refuse, which of course was the cheapest and roughest part. I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time. It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pin-points, in contact with his flesh. Even to this day I can recall accurately the tortures that I underwent when putting on one of these garments. The fact that my flesh was soft and tender added to the pain. But I had no choice. I had to wear the flax shirt or none; and had it been left to me to choose, I should have chosen to wear no covering. In connection with the flax shirt, my brother John, who is several years older than I am, performed one of the most generous acts that I ever heard of one slave relative doing for another. On several occasions when I was being forced to wear a new flax shirt, he generously agreed to put it on in my stead and wear it for several days, till it was "broken in." Until I had grown to be quite a youth this single garment was all that I wore (Washington 232-233)
Point of View
The passage is told in 1st person point of view by Booker T. Washington. We know this because of how he has written it, how he also explains in the preface that the novel is about his experiences in the slave life, and this entire paragraph talks only about his personal experience during this situation with the flax shirt. As the narrator, Washington seems reliable. In the preface he goes into detail about how he wishes the autobiography was more perfect. He explains it is not written to his standards of “perfection”, but he did the best he could admitting “[His] regret is that what [he had] attempted to do ha[d] been done so imperfectly” (Washington 29). This helps express to readers that he is honest, hardworking, and therefore a trustworthy man. So right away as a reader you have a liking for him. As for this specific passage, it is hard to know just from reading this paragraph if he is trustworthy or not. The reasoning for this is he is telling all of this from memory, and sometimes a person’s memory can be inaccurate and sometimes fogged. Nobody can know if his stories are 100% true, but because of the trust he established with the reader during the preface, he seems more likely to be telling this to his best memory.
Tone/Mood
The tone of the passage is serious and the mood is very depressing, but towards the end becomes a bit more uplifting. When Washington first describes wearing the flax shirt, he begins by informing us that “ Even to this day I can recall accurately the tortures that I underwent when putting on one of these garments” (Washington 233). Describing how uncomfortable it was for him gives the passage a serious tone at first, but the readers get a heartwarming experience when he tells us about his loving brother helping him, explaining “On several occasions when I was being forced to wear a new flax shirt, he generously agreed to put it on in my stead and wear it for several days, till it was “broken in” (Washington 233). I believe this act of kindness affects the readers because although the Booker and his family were going through the hardships of slavery, they still managed to remain loving towards one another.
Description and Imagery
Booker does a great job of describing how it feels to wear the flax shirt, using descriptive details in order to help the reader begin to imagine just one the many torturous experiences he had as a slave. He makes many comparisons including the fact that “It is almost equal to the feeling to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pinpoints, in contact with his flesh” (Washington 241). Booker T. Washington does a good job of comparing his experience to something most people can physically imagine.
