Sugar Changed the World, Part 3: Word Choice and Multimedia
Question 8 of 10 • MA-English Language Arts 10 B
Read the passage and study the image from Sugar Changed the World. This excerpt was written by Olaudah Equiano, an enslaved African man who was taken to Barbados. The effect of an author’s choices can change over time. For example, Equiano includes the phrase "poor creatures” to appeal to the reader’s emotions. However, by today’s standards this is considered dehumanizing.The painstaking work had just one aim: to plant a crop that would end up taking the life of every worker who touched it. As [Olaudah] Equiano explained, the sugar slaves could hardly rest even when their day was done.Their huts, which ought to be well covered, and the place dry where they take their little repose, are often open sheds, built in damp places; so that when the poor creatures return tired from the toils of the field, they contract many disorders, from being exposed to the damp air in this uncomfortable state.These are what enslaved people’s huts looked like in the Caribbean (photo by V. C. Vulto).
Answer
A
It shows that plantation workers no longer live the way Equiano describes in the text.
B
It shows that plantation workers are still living the way Equiano describes in the text.
C
It shows how enslaved people were exposed to the outside elements and weather.
D
It shows the difference between plantation owners' and enslaved people’s living conditions.