Writing 121
16 November 2012
Jones
The Importance of Knowledge The importance of knowledge can serve many purposes, for many different types of people. Knowledge is a set of skills and information obtained through experience or education, giving someone the ability to perform well in a specific field or certain ability. In the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, the importance of knowledge serves as a much more significant purpose. Knowledge was not a simple trait of skills or information; it was his path to freedom, a path to success, and a path to becoming someone that he never had the chance to be. In the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, Douglass shows us the importance of knowledge and how it makes “a slave (into) a man,” triumphing over slavery (39).
Knowledge gave Douglass the tools necessary to see how his masters viewed him and …show more content…
The more Douglass read, the greater he wanted to detest his enslavers. He slowly “loathed (slave owners) as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men” (24). As he continued to read, he began to realize his miserable condition and how horrible it was to watch his fellow slaves know nothing about their condition. His eyes were opened to the path on which he had to follow in an attempt to thrust himself out of slaveries cruel bondage. Douglass now saw himself as a man not a slave. Reading gave Douglass an unknown ability to stand up for himself and others when being treated unjustly. Douglass had his defining moment “on one of the hottest days of the month of August, 1833” (39). Douglass was sent to a slave breaker, Mr. Covey. Douglass could no longer take the unjust treatment shown to him and the fellow slaves. Douglass stood up for himself, he fought Mr. Covey, from which he emerged unscathed by the demeaning man. Douglass than swore never to spend another day in slavery without fighting for his