Literacy In Frederick Douglass

In Frederick Douglass's autobiography The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. He elegantly depicts his journey of learning to read and write in the seven years of enslavement by the Hugh family. In order to argue the effect of slavery on literacy and the importance of literacy. In his first paragraph Douglass explains how he first acquired his literacy skills with “no regular teacher” but would be taught by his mistress. Who at a one point supported Douglass's education until under the “direction” of her husband ceased teaching him and attempted to negate any chance of Douglass obtaining any more knowledge. But Douglass noted satirically that his mistress was in need of “some training” in “the exercise
of irresponsible power” because “She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness”. Douglass does this to educate his readers that hatred and prejudice is taught, not hereditary. The second and third paragraphs go more in depth of the mistresses shift from a woman of “Lamblike disposition” to one of “Tiger like fierceness”. Douglass describes his mistress when first meeting her as “kind” and to have “heavenly qualities”. Fear of african slave literacy was a huge clause Douglass's mistress would fall victim to the ludicrous ideal of hatred for African slaves as the author describes “her tender heart would turn to stone”. Douglass describes his mistress as nice and gentle and became much more strident toward Douglass's learning than her own husband. Her shift from Douglass's teacher to a student of disdain, only supports the claim of hatred being taught and controls the opinion toward African slaves. However, these attempts to nullify Douglass's education would prove fruitless. In paragraph four. Making teachers of the hungry white boys on his street who he would gift bread and in return they “Would reward me with the more valuable bread of knowledge”. Douglass compares the importance of knowledge to that of food both are very valuable to humanity and are a necessity for long term survival. Its ironic that Douglass was able to acquire education which he craved and needed in exchange for food for his new teachers who were starving. They both needed each other. In his autobiography, The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Frederick Douglass brilliantly exposes these hidden truths of the struggle for education for slaves and it is beautifully captured with beautiful language and diction.