Quote 28
It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it. (1.8)
Notice how flat and unemotional Douglass's language is. He even admits that his language can't quite capture his experience. When he tries to describe his emotions on watching his Aunt Hester stripped naked and whipped mercilessly, he fails: no words he is capable of writing down can quite get the point across.
Quote 29
A representative could not be prouder of his election to a seat in the American Congress than a slave on one of the out-farms would be of his election to do errands at the Great House Farm. (2.7)
Being selected to work in the Great House Farm instead of the fields was seen to be a great honor for a slave, but Douglass is being ironic here. After all, even a slave in the Great House is still a slave. And even though America is a country where almost anyone could grow up to be president, the highest honor a slave could ever hope to attain is to be a servant in a slightly nicer part of the plantation.
Quote 30
It is impossible for me to describe my feelings as the time of my contemplated start drew near. I had a number of warmhearted friends in Baltimore,--friends that I loved almost as I did my life,--and the thought of being separated from them forever was painful beyond expression. It is my opinion that thousands would escape from slavery, who now remain, but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends. The thought of leaving my friends was decidedly the most painful thought with which I had to contend. (11.5)
One of the hardest things about becoming free is that Douglass has to leave his friends behind. Compare this to when he has to leave his family to go to Baltimore. Since he barely even knew them, the separation was pretty easy. But leaving his friends behind is one of the scariest thing he does in his life. He thinks a lot more slaves would try to escape if it didn't mean leaving all their friends behind.