Comparing The Literacy Narrative Of Frederick Douglass And Richard Wright

To compare and contrast the literacy narrative of Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright will be to compare and contrast the two individuals, despite that they lived different lives at a different time. Because of their social class they build a life which is similar of one another. They endure racism, which prevent them from any upward mobility. They were objected to only one way of living that was deemed suitable for people of their caliber. One obstacle that challenged them was unique, each individual figured out to eliminate the obstacle and gain the goal they desire. For Douglass and Wright reading and writing were an asset that was crucial for their wellbeing. Douglass was a man who lived from 1817 through 1895 and was born into slavery.
He knew that one key criteria to gain in order to prosper as a human being was to read and write. His understanding of this provoked him to search for those who can help him. He strategized a plan that benefitted two parties, and since the kids were in a similar lifestyle with Douglass, the kids were eager to take the bread that was offered. In this concept a favor for favor was executed swiftly. Wright, also understood where he stood in society and made peace with it. Although he knew how to read and write his desire to read and understand more overwhelmed him. Overwhelmed him so much that he dared to ask an Irish man to borough his library card, he made the observation that this specific man will not cause him any harm other than denying him the card. The risk was rewarding for him, he managed to obtain the card, and knew that to receive specific books he would have to forged letters indicating that the books were for someone else. Wright’s cunning thinking allow him to read all sorts of books and expand his
I could regard then in no other light than 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 slaver. (Douglass 146)
I forged more notes and my trips to the library became frequent. Reading grew into a passion. My first serious novel was Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street. It made me see my boss, Mr. Gerald, and identify him as an American type. I would smile when I saw him lugging his golf bags into the office. I had always felt a vast distance separating me from the boss, and now I felt closer to him, though still distant. I felt now that I knew him; that I could feel the very limits of his narrow life. And this had happened because I had read a novel about a mythical man called George F Babbitt. (Wright