Douglass was born in a dirty, old, plantation, he originally never knew his mother or father. He was always fussed on why he was there or why was he not able to leave. Douglass would sneak out every cold night, when his master was asleep, to find out as much information as he could to figure out why he was even there in the first place. Page 2: At the age of five, he witnessed his aunt get whipped by his master. You can tell he must have been crucified because of the way that he described it.
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.
He described her, as a woman who treated him the way one human being has to treat the other. However, his master immediately put a stop to it because in his view learning to read “would forever unfit him from being a slave.” Douglass took this lesson to heart where he says it “only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn.” At this moment he learned that education is what ruin slaves and education and slavery are not linked together. This encouraged him to work toward becoming free by learning to read and write using several strategies that included offering bread to the white children in exchange for reading lessons and observing the writings of the men he worked with.
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.
All slaves have once had the dreams of freedom and a plot for escape, but the pathway to this freedom could come only with the ability to read and write. It was said by master that instructing a Negro how to read and write would ruin them as a slave (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.20). Once they learned these things then they would have the same knowledge as a white men, and the next thing they would want is their freedom. If slaves had this capability then their chances of escape would be much greater and white slave owner could not make a living without them. Frederick Douglass had his own way in succeeding to learn, he was first taught by his master’s wife, until her husband caught her in the act and forbid her to ever proceed in her actions (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.20).
Learning To Read and Write is an autobiography Written by Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born into slavery, and moved into his final master’s home when he was a young boy. From the start Douglass was giving schooling from his mistress, however this came to an abrupt ending when Douglass’ master walked into a lesson and became furious. In spite of his lessons coming to an end, Frederick Douglass was determined to learn to read and write so he could escape his life of slavery and enter a new found life of freedom. With his determination Douglass was ready to do anything to learn.
Learning to read Learning to read by Frederick Douglass encapsulates the story of a slave who was taught alphabets by her mistress who used to own him and was a relatively kind women then other slave owners and she used to be kind and gentle but the heart that slave owners possess eventually turns to stone and so did hers, meanwhile he started reading book s on his own, the courage and will to learn lead him to eventually learn how to write on his own, “The willingness of a salve in order to learn how to read and write is a tale worth telling”. (Douglass) The various issues that the African Americans had to face and that they beard for centuries also included not letting them how to read and right due to the fact that if someone learns about
According to Mistress Hugh, “education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglass, 33). Although Mistress Hugh had stopped teaching Douglass how to read, the seed of knowledge had already been planted. In the years that followed, his hunger for knowledge did not dissipate. Douglass devised various methods to learn to read and write in very clever ways.
However, literacy turns out to be not only bliss, but also painful. Indeed, while learning to read Frederick becomes more and more aware of the injustices of slavery, and this leads him to regret this knowledge “Learning how to read had become a curse rather than a blessing” ( Douglass ) . Douglass believes in the importance of education. He thinks that education is a key part to our life; it is the only way to get freedom. Literacy is very powerful because it can set anyone free to pursue dreams.
By Douglass learning how to read, this meant that he could excel beyond being a slave. Furthermore, this also meant that Douglass could educate illiterate slaves by teaching them how to read and write so that slaves could become aware of social injustice and use the notion of literacy to become successful. Moreover, learning to read came to define Fredrick Douglass as a person when he stated “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom...
An education is one of the most valuable items one can possess and that is something that will never change. Douglass noticed that slaves were not permitted to learn or read because it would ultimately lead to them being able to think on their own. Most African Americans only knew slavery and that was all they would ever know. Although learning would present Douglass with the harsh reality of his and his peers situation, he realized this was a key component to freedom. Douglass mentions, “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing.
Human slavery requires ignorance, just as an individual’s freedom, from oppression, requires knowledge attained by education. To maintain order and control over slaves, slavery demands ignorant slaves; thus, keeping slaves ignorant prevents slaves from recognizing the empowering value of education and education’s ability to liberate slaves from the effects of ignorance. Frederick Douglass’s pursuit of education helped him discover the dark, hidden truths of slavery in his article, “How I Learned to Read and Write.” Thus, the pursuit of education inspires a desire for freedom. The desire to learn generates determination and motivation.
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.
An education often opens new doors for people, but how does a lack of an education affect other people? What causes such a stark difference between people with knowledge and people no knowledge at all? In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass an American Slave we can see that Douglass is more intelligent than the other slaves on the plantation he is living on due to his hidden ability to read. With his level of education, he is able to see the brutal mistreatment of slaves and is unable to look at things the same way when he was an uneducated slave. The slaves on the plantation do not know how to read and therefore do not view being a slave the way Douglass views it.
