The word downtrodden in this sentence from section 2 means

unfortunate and miserable

The best response is the first reply because downtrodden means trampled upon, crushed, depressed.  One way you can help yourself in the future when looking to determine the meaning of a word is to try to replace it with synonyms.  That said, if you replace “downtrodden” with “depressed” or “sad,” the sentence still makes perfect sense.  However, what if you don’t know synonyms?  In that case, try to look at the parts of the word.  For instance, the prefix of “downtrodden” is “down.”  That said, “down” is typically a word associated with “sad.”  Thus, one could make the connection that “downtrodden” is synonymous with “unfortunate” and/or “miserable.”

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