In this scene Frederick ponders over the understandable curiosity over why Mr. Covey didn’t take him to be publicly flogged after his fight with him. His conclusion is a plausible one.

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He also discusses the necessity of the plantation owners to allow the enslaved to ‘let off steam’ during the Xmas and New Year period letting them more or less do as they pleased.

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At about this time in his life Nat Turners rebellion in Virginia would have sent tremors throughout the south, as it was widely broadcast in the press. The individual State Slave Laws were tightened and made more onerous their punishment in terms of letting the enslaved ever learn to read let alone write.

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Frederick also explains that the owners often tricked the enslaved into believing that freedom brought with it the evils of alcohol, devising ever more cunning means by which to get many of them to drink more than they could handle.