Frederick Douglass Reflective Memo

Reflective memo-
I have decided to revise to of my earlier essays, my literary biography and essay one. I chose these two pieces because I thought that they needed more work to be done on them. When I put my essays in the peer revision discussions, I received suggestions on what I could fix. There were a couple of times where I didn’t change what was suggested and my essays turn out a little worse then I expected them to. Three of the questions that I looked to help me change what was wrong in them. One was that I needed to work on errors in my works cited. Often times, I would write a good essay, only to be held back by an inaccurate works cited page. I fixed all my inaccurate citations this time around. This applied to essay 1.Two, also
For example when he says,” The idea as to how I might learn to write was suggested to me by being in Durgin and Bailey’s ship-yard...write on the timber the name of that part of the ship for which it was intended...I soon learned the names of these letters, and for what they were intended when placed upon a piece of timber in the shipyard”(pg.37). Since Douglass is not supposed to be learning literacy, instead working for his master, he is showing a sense of rebellion behind his master’s back, empowering himself, which leads to him empowering others. This gives Douglass a sense of capability, like he can achieve other things besides this. Being able to read makes him more noticeable as an actual human being unlike how they actually see him. For example, when he says," that education and slavery were incompatible with each other. From this time I was most narrowly watched. If I was in a separate room for any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book"(pg.34). It was as if they considered him learning to read his key to becoming a human being, and they did not want that. Also when he said," The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers"(pg.35). Learning how to read gave him a sense of patriotism for his race, to protect and rebel against them. That is why it was empowering to have literacy skills, because it gave him a sense of being
When FD says,”The first step had been taken”(34).He is pointing towards that fact that since he has gone down that path, it's too late for anyone to stop him from achieving his goal of becoming free. He understands this because of his mistress's decision to stop teaching him because of how dangerous the power to read is. Later, FD says,” This bread I used to bestow on the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me the more valuable bread of knowledge”(34). After he had taken the first step, he couldn’t stop seeking knowledge of how to read, because this is his masters fear, that his reading will led him to extents that he had never gone to before. This would making him more likely to rebel later on.Having literacy skills was the exact opposite thing that they wanted slaves to have. In NFLD, Douglass says,” Learning would spoil the best n***** in the world” (pg.33). His master gave him advice by accident, basically saying that if a slave learns how to read, the master loses his power over them. After he learns how to read, and is loaned to Mr. Covey, he fights him, because what his literacy skills did to empower him. He gains empowerment by believing that he is capable of anything and that he is just as good as they