Learning how to Read and Write 10 17 14
“Learning How to Read and Write”
By Frederick Douglass
“Learning how to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is based on the very unfair life of Douglass, a little boy who was born a slave. In the essay, Douglass began expressing how his mistress was a very kind woman when he met her. This kind woman started to teach him how to read. However, after her husband forbade her to teach him, she transformed herself into a very evil person. He also learned how his slaveholders did not want him to learn how to read because the slaveholders maintain power by keeping the slaves controlled, confused and ignorant. Otherwise the slaves would have gotten out of control. Douglass learned how to teach himself how to read in many ways possible and he succeeded. However, he did not enjoy reading as much as he thought because he found out how miserable his life as slave for life was. He discovered that learning how to read was not the key for him to be a free man. He demonstrates it by expressing that it is so mediocre, so inhuman that makes him fight for the abolition of slavery. He describes that someone that is a slave is someone that had not rights for anything.
Douglass’s Master acknowledged the progress he was making on learning. He forbade his wife to teach Douglass. He said to her “...among other things it is unlawful as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (excerpt for Chapter VI). His master also told to his Mistress “...if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell’(excerpt for Chapter IV). When Douglass heard what his master said, he felt helpless but more intrigued about the reasons his master had against him learning. Frederick Douglass was brought up in slavery; as a small child he revolted against the system by breaking rules that were made to confine blacks to be slaves for life. Against the law he learned to read and write from a white person. Douglas knew that his masters were unhappy with him learning how to read. Douglass also noticed how his
By Frederick Douglass
“Learning how to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is based on the very unfair life of Douglass, a little boy who was born a slave. In the essay, Douglass began expressing how his mistress was a very kind woman when he met her. This kind woman started to teach him how to read. However, after her husband forbade her to teach him, she transformed herself into a very evil person. He also learned how his slaveholders did not want him to learn how to read because the slaveholders maintain power by keeping the slaves controlled, confused and ignorant. Otherwise the slaves would have gotten out of control. Douglass learned how to teach himself how to read in many ways possible and he succeeded. However, he did not enjoy reading as much as he thought because he found out how miserable his life as slave for life was. He discovered that learning how to read was not the key for him to be a free man. He demonstrates it by expressing that it is so mediocre, so inhuman that makes him fight for the abolition of slavery. He describes that someone that is a slave is someone that had not rights for anything.
Douglass’s Master acknowledged the progress he was making on learning. He forbade his wife to teach Douglass. He said to her “...among other things it is unlawful as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (excerpt for Chapter VI). His master also told to his Mistress “...if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell’(excerpt for Chapter IV). When Douglass heard what his master said, he felt helpless but more intrigued about the reasons his master had against him learning. Frederick Douglass was brought up in slavery; as a small child he revolted against the system by breaking rules that were made to confine blacks to be slaves for life. Against the law he learned to read and write from a white person. Douglas knew that his masters were unhappy with him learning how to read. Douglass also noticed how his