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Analysis Of Frances E. W. Harper's Poem Learning To Read

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Frances E. W. Harper’s poem “Learning to Read” deals with endurance and sufferance during the time of Reconstruction looking back before the Civil War. The poem shows the power struggle between the masters and the slaves, and in mirrored context the struggle between the Rebs, Southerners, and the Yankees, Northerners, with the education of the slaves. The slaves, rebelling against their masters, trying to learn how to read and write, and the Rebs pushing against the expansion of knowledge. The slaves try and do everything that they can to get taught and teach themselves by using any means necessary. This shows the lengths that humans will endure to accomplish things that people will oppress them for. People oppress others when they feel their
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