In the ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Frederick Douglass was a slave that was determined to become free from slavery. And eventually he did accomplish that goal, while ultimately becoming an abolitionist archivist and set off to abolish slavery at the end. Douglass wanted nothing more to be free, but something else was equally important was: literacy. As a slave this fundamental tool was against the rules, unlawful and unsafe. Getting caught doing so would lead to punishment. A difference wasn’t that slaves didn’t want to know how to read and write, slave holders wanted slaves to remain ignorant. Were the slaveholders threatened that if slaves were educated they would be able to outsmart them or be able to escape? Definitely.
Frederick Douglass Graphic Organizer 1. In the passage, Frederick Douglass reveals about himself his life story. He writes about his childhood in which he learned to read by exchanging bread for lessons, his thoughts on slavery after reading The Columbian Orator where he had gotten hope on escaping slavery, and how he thought about slavery and freedom after reading one of Sheridan’s mighty speeches. His thoughts on slavery from a young age is revealed at the end of paragraph one where he said “You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life!
"I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right, and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man." The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, demonstration that for many there is a direct correlation between education and freedom. Through this book, Douglass shows the reader that as a slave, he 's encountered masters who 've gone out their way to deny him an education like Mr. and Mrs. Auld.
The Struggles Of Frederick Douglass As a young man Frederick Douglass was struck with the inability to read nor write these troubles dawned on him due to his state of slavery. Frederick Douglass was born a slave, a slave will not read, a slave will not write, and a slave is not a human, these thoughts were planted in the head of his white owners cursing him to inequality and illiteracy. Imagine never being able to write a love letter or read a funny note, imagine never being able to put your ideas on paper and making them permanent. Frederick Douglass had a great mind, one that was chained up and held back by the slavery and illiteracy his forced lifestyle brought along.
Frederick Douglass was a slave from Maryland who, through luck and intelligence, was able to escape slavery at 20 years old. In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he describes how it felt being a slave throughout his childhood and adolescence, as well as the traumatizing conditions on plantations. Douglass also discusses how he learned to read and write, which causes him to consider his position in slavery and helps to inspire his escape. Nevertheless, once he arrives in New York, Douglass’s hope quickly fades as he is faced with the reality of his situation; he is all alone in a place where he could easily be caught and returned to slavery, making the efforts of his escape in vain. In the excerpt from his autobiography,
Frederick Douglass’s quest for truth and meaning in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass depicts the link between knowledge and freedom. As a slave, Frederick Douglass was abused by his masters and restricted from any notion of learning truth. However, his slaveholder’s wife tried to teach him how to read. When her husband discovered this, he became extremely upset and informed her that by teaching a slave how to read, he would no longer want to be a slave. Frederick realized that the perpetuation of slavery was enforced through ignorance; knowledge and truth would be the means to his freedom.
Frederick Douglass was one of the few slaves who learned how to read and write. His owner’s mistress was caught teaching him by the owner and he told her that it was illegal and not safe to teach him. Douglass’s owner explained the reasons why he should not be
Many of us take education for granted and don’t learn to our fullest potential, but Fredrick Douglass soaked in every piece of information up because he knew it was his way out. “Learning to Read and Write” is a famous article based on what Fredrick Douglass went through to earn a valuable education while being enslaved. Author Fredrick Douglass, wrote “Learning to Read and Write”, published in 1845. Throughout the article, he takes us through different events he goes through while being enslaved. Douglass begins building his credibility with personal facts and successfully demonstrating logic and pathos appeal.
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.
African-American slaves were forbidden to obtain the knowledge of being able to read or write, stemming from the fear of white masters that educated slaves will overpower them. Douglass managed to learn to read by bribing poor and hungry white boys into teaching him in exchange for bits of bread. Douglass illustrates his thirst for literacy through “[The] bread [he] used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give [him] that more valuable bread of knowledge” (pg 23). This reveals how much Douglass valued education and took advantage of all the knowledge he had access to. Today’s youth, especially the ones belonging to a minority
In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.
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.
Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.
Douglass’ master stopped teaching him how to read and became cold-hearted. “Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of the tiger-like fierceness”(Douglass 37). Douglass had eventually taught himself how to read and one day while reading “The Columbian Orator” He found out the truth about why he was a slave. “...a band of successful robbers, who left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery”(Douglass 40).
Douglass states: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Douglass 51). Reading and writing opened Frederick Douglass’s eyes to the cause of the abolitionist. He became knowledgeable about a topic that white slave owners tried to keep hidden from their slaves. Literacy would eventually impact his life in more ways than what he could see while he was a young slave under Master Hugh’s
With all the knowledge he was gaining, he began to comprehend everything around him. The things he was learning fascinated him, but the “more [he] read, the more [he] was led to abhor and detest [his] enslavers”(Douglass 35); however, that should not be viewed as a negative affect but a positive one. No one should want to be deceived for their entire life. This hatred that he built up motivated him to continue to further educate himself. As a result, he later motivated other slaves to earn an education by having “[availed] themselves to [an] opportunity to learn to read” (Douglass 69) by Douglass teaching them every Sunday.