Preview

"Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright"- Comparison paper between Douglass and Wright. Main topics: Each author's thoughts and ideas, and their lifestyles.

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1215 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright"- Comparison paper between Douglass and Wright. Main topics: Each author's thoughts and ideas, and their lifestyles.
There are many similarities and differences between the two intellectual authors, some of these are deep within, some stand out. The main focus is not only to understand the differences and similarities of the two, but also the qualities and characteristics of these writers consist of. Each author displays qualities that illustrate their identity. It is important that we, as readers, understand the authors ' inspiring and intellectual words that portray who they are on the outside and the inside. I believe the authors show similarity and difference to each other in many ways. Family, desire to learn, and the way they portray people, are some of these ways.

Both Douglass and Wright have the uncontrollable urge to learn; with their experiences, it made it difficult for them to succeed. There are many examples of this struggle. One example would be when Mrs. Auld had to stop teaching little Frederick how to read and write. As he reflects, "The most interesting feature of my life here was learning to read and write, under somewhat marked disadvantages" (Douglass 458). This shows how Frederick really loved reading; he had a huge passion for it. When Mrs. Auld had to refrain from teaching Frederick, it put matters into his own hands. He struggles everyday just to get reading and writing lessons. He eventually has to pay a "tuition fee" to the young white children in his neighborhood for a lesson. This event made times tough for Frederick. Giving up belongings is the only thing he could do to cure his urge. It is sad because the reason Mrs. Auld had to refrain from teaching Richard was because of her husband. He didn 't approve of slaves to learn. Slavery in general plays an important role in Frederick 's life; one reason is because it was against the law for slaves to read. This made it real hard for Frederick to learn how to read and write, he would be forced to receive his education secretively. If Frederick 's learning were to ever be discovered by the public,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Even though there is much similarity between these authors, there is also much contrast among them. Each author differed in their upbringing,…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The short narration “Learning how to Read” by Frederick Douglass, tells a story about how Douglass being a young slave hunger to learn how to read. He mentions some of the things he need to do to learn how to read and write. Douglass being nothing but a young slave had an eager to get his education although his master had prohibited him to stop learning Douglass was very smart and brave. In this story he demonstrates to be very confident and very curious but about why his master did not want him to learn how to read and write. But Douglass creative mind urged him to get…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “Learning to Read” an excerpt from his autobiography, Frederick Douglass writes about the steps he took to learn to read and write. He shows all the steps in this excerpt. He was a slave in a house; he didn’t have any opportunity to go to school or get any educations but the mistress in the house helped him and taught him the alphabet. But then Douglass’s master asked his wife to stop teaching him. She listened to her husband and turns into inhuman, an evil woman, Douglass could not recognize her anymore. Douglass writes, “She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself” (36). She changed and she became more evil, more violent than the master. But then that didn’t make Douglass stop and stand hopelessly, he found another way to learn. He tricked a kid from his neighborhood and makes that kid teach him how to read and it went well. After that he continued to find more way to learn, and try improving his reading. He found a book named “The Columbian Orator”. He used every opportunity he got try to read this book and learn the words in there. That was the final step that he took to learn to read. Some years later, after he went to a shipyard and saw and board with words, letters, and he wanted to write. He tried to copy the letters from the board. He didn’t stop; he wanted to know more about writing. He found a boy and asked him to teach him write. The boy taught him to write all the alphabet letters. Finally, the last step he took to learn to write was that he took a book and copy all the words in there and try to remember what the words looked like. That was long and not so easy time for him to learn how to read and write but it didn’t stop him from his interest in reading and writing. Even though he didn’t have any opportunity as a slave to have education, he became strong and found any way that could help him to learn. He keep reading and writing until he…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article “learning to read and write” by Frederick Douglass, he describes about the challenges that he had when he learned how to read and write. He is an American slave who lived in Master Hugh’s family for seven years. His master’s wife was very kind towards him. She treated him as a human and thought him with some alphabet. But her husband refused her to do so because he did not want Douglass to learn anything.…

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This all started when Fredrick was a child. Douglass’ Master Hugh’s wife, Mrs. Auld began to teach him how to read and write. Master Hugh advised against it, but Fredrick’s interest in learning was unabated. He continued his studies and realizes soon that his new education was more of a curse than a blessing.…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    They both try to live their lives, even If that may not be possible. So as a result of their misfortune and mistreatment, pursue the act of revenge on their creator, and in doing this directly or indirectly case the suffering of other characters. There are also similar themes shared between the two texts. The theme of ‘creator vs. the created’, the creations being ‘more human than human’, ‘rise of technology’, ‘man attempting to play god, and the consequences it can have’, even ‘romance’.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Mrs. Auld began teaching Frederick how to read was Douglass’s first real foray into rebellion. It was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write and after Mr. Auld reprimanded Mrs. Auld, Douglass realized that “to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man” (Douglass 20). The seed of rebellion had been planted and he had discovered his path to freedom. He was proud of his new ability and tried to practice it as often as he could by challenging children to writing letters (Douglass 26). Douglass cultivated this new ability and treats it as the reason he was able to become free.…

    • 737 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    He wrote about his personal experience to reach out to the audience so they can, through his words, see and feel what he went through as a slave. Douglass’s idea of protest was active and peaceful to a certain extent. Douglass made it a point to learn how to read shortly after his mistress was forbidden, by her husband, from continuing teaching Douglass how to read. Douglass. According to Douglass, his master said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell” (39). and Douglass did. He would do anything he could to continue his “education”. He went to children and tricked them into teaching him how to read and write. Also, he would sneak a book during any free time he had so that he can practice until he mastered it. With all of his reading, he realized that there was a life outside of being a slave and he was determined that he was not going to be a slave for his entire life, he was one day going to be free. Douglass explains how one day his life changes, “I have already intimidated that my condition was much worse, during that first six months of my stay at Mr. Convey’s, than in the last six. The circumstances leading to the change in Mr. Convey’s course…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As a child he lost his innocence when he saw his Aunt Hester beaten for running of to be with another slave named Ned. “I was terrified and horror-stricken at the sight, that I hid myself in a closet, and dared not venture out till longer after the bloody transaction was over. I expected it would be my turn next.” From this moment on Frederick Douglas is aware of the beatings that occur around him. At first he does not talk about himself being beaten regularly or even getting in trouble. He seemed to have made good connections, especially with his first master. “I was seldom whipped by my master, and suffered little from any thing else than hunger and cold.” , because of this relationship with his master he was afforded the opportunity to go to Baltimore and work for a family there. Going to Baltimore was the catalyst of him finding what he thinks is the key to freedom, education. Very soon after he began living with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, Mrs.Auld began to teach him the alphabet. Though, it was not this that made him value learning to read, or education as a whole for that matter. It was her husband’s response “..if you teach that nigger to (speaking of myself) how to read there will be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” Frederick Douglas used this to drive his way to freedom. For…

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass in his essay "Learning to Read and Write" explains all the difficulties he had to face when he learned to read and write in 1830s. Being a slave, it was against the law to learn to read and write, yet Douglass by risking his life, using all opportunities managed to learn reading and writing.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fredrick taught himself ho to read and write despite it being against his slave-owners wishes. He first started learning from poor white children in town. He would bring and extra loaf of bread with him when he was on errands to give these children in exchange for reading lessons. His Mistress was also at first supportive of him and his dream to read, but over time she began to grow hateful and would beat him if she saw him with a newspaper. Douglass later wrote "Education and slavery were incompatible". With these obstacles though he sill managed to learn a great deal about reading and writing. Frederick learned that learning how to read and write was his pathway to freedom, then gaining this knowledge was to become his goal. At home Frederick read parts of books and newspapers when he could, but he had to constantly be on guard against his Mistress. His Mistress screamed whenever she caught Frederick reading.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the texts it shows how Frederick Douglass was educated. On page 6 lines 20-21 it says “Mistress in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” also on page 6 lines 22-27 the quote says “The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted them into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different time and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, enough…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Fredrick Douglass’ disadvantage in life was that he was born a slave in 1818. Only through determination was he able to escape slavery and go on to become an acclaimed abolitionist speaker as well as a published writer. Frederick Douglass was determined to read and write and taught himself. His mistress taught him the alphabet, but no more. In Douglass’ essay he describes his plan, “The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers” (152). Through reading and writing he gained knowledge which gave him choices and he was determined not to be a slave for life. Richard Wright was born in 1908, but because he was a Negro and born in the South in a time of segregation, he was not afforded opportunities that were given to white members of society. He was fortunate that he was able to go to school and knew how to read. He had a love for reading and a longing for knowledge, however; because he was a Negro he was not allowed to patronize the library to check out books. He was determined to find a way to do so. He not only had to find a way to check out books at the library, but he explains that he had to be careful in doing so. Richard Wright…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Frederick Douglass was an African American man who made a huge impact towards the abolitionist movement. Douglass grew up in Talbot County, Maryland. Douglass never knew his age or the identity of his father. Douglass’s father was thought to be his master, Captain Anthony. The uncertainty of major things in life such as his age and father drove Douglass to thirst for knowledge and stability.These two things paired together led him to live the life that he pursued. “Douglass became an influential abolitionist himself which eventually led to his writing the story of his life under slavery.” (Masterplots, Fourth Edition). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass successfully highlights the importance of a strong education,…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Douglass knowing that he could no longer be educated by Mrs. Auld, he would look for other methods to teach himself. Douglass’s determination to be educated guided him well. In chapter seven, Douglass shares how he gained an education without a formal teacher. Douglass became friends with local poor white boy’s, who he traded bread with in return of knowledge. Douglass also made use of the child of Mr. Auld, by using his educational books. Mr. Auld was right to fear the education of slaves, it was Douglass’s education which led him to seek freedom from slavery. It was education which caused Douglass the passion to better his mind. It was education which helped Douglass establish a legacy, which presented the harsh reality of being a slave. By taking a slave’s education away, a master can maintain their power other their slave, continuing their suppression. Douglass was born into a world that did not want him to be educated, but his persistence to learn resulted in him gaining both an identity and his own freedom. Education is something that many of us nowadays take for granted, but Douglass demonstrates the true power and importance of knowledge within his…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays