Rahul Patel
Dr. Fiorelli
UCWR 110, Sec. 023
5 February 2016
Many people discuss factors that help or hurt their writing. Whether its learning from others or being stopped from writing and publishing. In Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write”, he talks about how he was owned by the Hugh family and how he was taught by Mrs. Hugh. But at the same time she tried to hold Douglass back from learning to read and write. Also in Virginia Woolf’s “What If Shakespeare Had Had a Sister?”, she explains what it would be like if Shakespeare had a sister of equal talent. Would she be treated the same way as him? She is disappointed to find out that women aren’t found anywhere in literature. I believe that both essay’s share the theme of desire/talent.
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Hugh. But things suddenly changed, Mrs. Hugh would start to help him, but then would stop helping him immediately. Douglass really wanted to learn how to read and write, so he would take a book with him when he went to run errands. There he would ask the white children to teach him how to read and write. In the process of learning, he comes across a book called “The Columbian Orator”. Through this he learns how slaves negotiated with their masters so that they can be free. Douglass realizes that he needs to do the same so that he can become a great writer. He continues to learn from the children and then he finally succeeds at reading and
In paragraph 7 of an excerpt of Frederick Douglass's "Learning to Read and Write," he talks about "regretting [his] own existence." With his skills of literacy and comprehension of English, Douglass overhears people talking about the abolitionists. He listens intently, and over time infers the context of being an abolitionist as "anything wrong in the mind of a slaveholder. " Unfortunately for him, his "dictionary afforded [him] little to no help." Persistent and unabashed, Douglass continues to attempt to decipher the "act of abolishing.
“Learning to Read and Write” by Fredrick Douglas is a tale around a slave breaking the subjugation of obliviousness by figuring out how to peruse and compose. Over the span of 7 years Douglas attentively shows himself to peruse and compose by method for taking daily papers, exchanging nourishment with poor white young men for information and books, and also duplicating his lord's penmanship. Douglas figuring out how to peruse gave him great consciousness of his condition as he says “…I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy” (Page 168-169). With his new awareness he endured with wretchedness begrudging his kindred slaves for their
Illiteracy: So Am I A Part Of The Democracy Or Not Frederick Douglass’s (Learning to Read and write) written in 1845 is able to complicate Jonathan Kozol’s (The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society) written in 1967. Kozol writes about people needing to be literate to become a part of the democracy and be considered a full citizen.
Frederick Douglass’s 1845 excerpt, “Learning to Read and Write” (paragraphs 7+8), shifts from slavery and abolitionism to learning how to write as a slave, utilizes homogenous analogies, parallel structure, and anaphoras, in order to show that although “learning how to write” is a “treacherous” and a “long, tedious effort” for slaves, hard work will eventually lead to success. Homogenous analogies, such as the fruit of abolition and the light breaking upon Douglass, accentuate how the word “abolition” can literally bring a person closer to freedom. For instance, Douglass mentions how a slave who “ran away” or “set fire to a barn” is associated with abolition. It took Douglass sometime to acquire the definition of “abolition” because he had
While reading Fredrick Douglass “Learning to Read and Write” a passage that stood out to me, was that he figured out a plan to learn how to read by making friends and turning them into to his teachers so he could expand his knowledge. A quote that I love in this passage was “This bread I used to bestow upon hungry little urchins, who, in return would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge” (Douglass,22). Which me when he gives them their bread what he gets in return is a gift also as well, which is the gift of knowledge. I was so struck about this passage is because do to his circumstances he knew that he wants to learn how to read and write and he would not give him up on himself to better expand his reading. The idea in this passage is so important to me, don’t give up on your education if you can find ways to expand it, you should do it.
Frederick Douglass was a slave who wanted to learn how to read. His mistress wanted to teach him but her husband did not approve, so he had to find a different way to learn how to read. He gave the white children down the street bread and in return they would teach him to read. Frederick Douglass grew to not like reading because it reminded him that he would never be free. Douglass’s tone in his Autobiography is angry, this helped him achieve his purpose.
He converted unknowingly little “White boys” that he would meet on the street into his teachers and over time, Douglass finally learned how to read. The young boys that helped teach Douglass how to read would soon grow up and be free to do as they wish, but he would be a slave for life! By learning to read, not only did Douglass gain the knowledge
The power of education is a main theme within A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass 's experiences lead him to recognize its great power and to believe that education is a key in our life. It has the power to open all doors while providing us with several opportunities. Education makes the difference; it expands the human mind since the more we know the more enlightened we are. It makes us free and it avoid us to be enslaved, too.
From the moment Frederick Douglass was given the tools to read “books” he was overcome with a joy and excitement for knowledge that inspired him to persevere regardless of the beliefs of others. As a slave Douglass was sent to live with his masters the Hugh family, during his time there his master’s wife began to teach him to read “books”. The lessons gave the young boy a chance to explore worlds he never imagined and was the beginning of an undeniable love for literature. Unfortunately when his master was informed of this he immediately halted all the lessons. Douglass recalls Mr. Hugh explaining to his wife that studying “books” was not suitable for slaves and
In “learning how to read and write,” Fredrick Douglass tells about how he achieved the ability to read and write. Thou, it seems like an easy task, Douglass accomplished his goals in a time where society condoned slavery. Despite all the barriers Douglass faced, he accomplished his journey, and learned to read and write; therefore engaging the audience to overcome any obstacles just as he did.
Douglass belong to a well off family. The woman of the house thought him how to read and write some things. Until her husband found out that she was teaching him, then she suddenly stopped and was angry at Douglass, when he was reading. They felt like he would listen to the Irishman when he said “They both advised me to run away to the north; that I should find friends there, and that I should be free.” After losing his only source of teaching he resorted to the lest fortunate white kids for help.
Fredrick Douglass overhears this, and realizes that getting an education can actually lead him to freedom, and leaving slaves uneducated is a strategy to enslave blacks. He is then determined to learn anything he
Education gives hope for Douglass’s life since he began to truly understand what goes on in slavery. As he figured out more about the topic, his self motivation poured out hope in his life. As Frederick saw an opportunity to become
“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is a personal narrative which describes a specific time in his childhood when he was learning to read and write. Born as a slave in the pre-Civil War south, Douglass was not expected to be literate. However, through strong ambition, Douglass overcame restrictions and stereotypes placed on slaves and taught himself to read and write. Later in his life, Frederick Douglass wrote down this story in his book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Today, students and adults can enjoy this narrative on how he overcame the struggles of learning how to read and write.
The level of education of the slaves on the plantation allow them to be manipulated by their masters. In many situations during the 1800s when slavery was prominent we can see that education holds power in society. Slave masters were educated and due to this, they were able to exert control over the slaves on the plantation. Douglass was self-educated and was able to analyze slave behavior and see slavery occur firsthand as a slave himself. In the book, we can see how the slave’s ignorance is actually bliss from the perspective of Douglass, how information like knowing how to read was withheld from the slaves and why and why slave-owners preferred non-educated slaves to educated ones.