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AP English Language

Douglass, Chapters X–XI

Shared by Ashton · Oct 20, 2026 · 0 plays

Covey, the fight, the 1835 escape plot and the road to New Bedford. Mostly plot recall, with some analysis.

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100 questions across 10 sections. After every answer you’ll see why each choice is right or wrong, not just the one you picked.

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Sections (none selected means all)

Sample questions

Open a question to see the answer choices and the correct answer.

On what date did Douglass go to live with Edward Covey?
  1. A. July 1, 1833
  2. B. January 1, 1833 ✓
  3. C. January 1, 1834
  4. D. August 1833

Correct answer: B. Douglass states he left Master Thomas's house and went to Covey's on the 1st of January, 1833.

What was Douglass's role for the first time in his life when he went to Covey's?
  1. A. House servant
  2. B. Field hand ✓
  3. C. Ship caulker
  4. D. Overseer's assistant

Correct answer: B. Douglass states he was 'now, for the first time in my life, a field hand,' and found himself awkward at it.

What caused Douglass's first severe whipping from Covey?
  1. A. He refused to work on Sunday
  2. B. He broke the woods gate and lost control of unbroken oxen ✓
  3. C. He was caught trying to read
  4. D. He talked back to Covey in front of other slaves

Correct answer: B. Given unbroken oxen and no experience driving them, Douglass twice nearly died as the team bolted, and Covey whipped him savagely for breaking the gate, blaming his 'awkwardness.'

Why did the enslaved people nickname Covey "the snake"?
  1. A. He had a hissing voice when he yelled
  2. B. He literally kept snakes to frighten them
  3. C. He used stealthy, constant surveillance – crawling and hiding to catch them off guard ✓
  4. D. He was known to betray other overseers to slaveholders

Correct answer: C. Douglass explains that Covey would crawl on hands and knees or hide behind fences and trees to spy on the workers unseen, so 'we used to call him, among ourselves, the snake.'

What is the significance of "the snake" being a name the enslaved people gave Covey themselves, rather than one imposed by the slave system?
  1. A. It shows enslaved people quietly exercising their own interpretive power to judge and name their oppressor, even while under surveillance ✓
  2. B. It proves Douglass believed superstitions about animals could predict a person's character
  3. C. It shows Covey approved of the nickname because it added to his fearsome reputation
  4. D. It demonstrates that Douglass considered all overseers interchangeable and indistinguishable from one another

Correct answer: A. Unlike earlier aptronyms imposed by the system exposing itself, this nickname originates among the enslaved themselves, aimed at the man watching them, a small but real act of naming power.