HiSET: Language Arts - Reading : Understanding paraphrase and re-statements of information
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Example Question #11 : Understanding Paraphrase And Re Statements Of Information
Adapted from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (1845)
I lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else. It is due, however, to my mistress to say of her, that she did not adopt this course of treatment immediately. She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness. It was at least necessary for her to have some training in the exercise of irresponsible power, to make her equal to the task of treating me as though I were a brute.
My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another. In entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, she did not seem to perceive that I sustained to her the relation of a mere chattel, and that for her to treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so.
How can the behavior of Frederick Douglass's mistress be summarized?
She was willing to teach him at first, but once she learned about the laws prohibiting slaves to learn to read, she quit
She was unwilling to help him learn to read and write because she did not think he was capable of learning
She was indifferent to him learning to read and write
She was willing to teach him at first, but under the influence of her husband, turned against the idea of teaching him
She was willing to teach him at first, but under the influence of her husband, turned against the idea of teaching him
The correct answer is that she at first wanted to help him learn to read and write, but due to the influence of her husband, turned against the idea and even tried to prevent others from teaching him. The passage states that his mistress had commenced to instruct Douglass, which means that she began teaching him. However, her husband's influence made her stop. ("My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else.") There is no indication that she learned of specific laws forbidding slaves from learning to read. There is also no indication that she though he could not learn. The mistress was not indifferent about Douglass's reading, since the passage suggests that she is at first kind, and then strongly opposed to it.
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