From “Harriet Tubman on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry
“This time she told them about the long agony of
the Middle Passage on the old slave ships, about
the black horror of the holds, about the chains
and whips. They too knew these stories." What is
the impact of the word choices the author uses
to convey her viewpoint in the phrases "long
agony" and "black horror"?
А) She wants them to feel what
the ancestors felt.
B) They suggest the terrible
misery experienced by the
people's ancestors.
C) To convey that Harriet Tubman
wanted them to know their
history
The phrases "long agony" and "black horror" describe the Middle Passage. The impact of the word choices in this paragraph suggest the terrible misery experienced by the people's ancestors. The first sentence develop the text's key idea that the escape from slavery was terrifying and the comparison to the Middle Passage brings the idea full circle; their people's slavery began in terror and agony, and their escape from it will be difficult as well.
