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Learning to read and write frederick douglass analyze
Learning to read and write frederick douglass analyze
Essays on douglass learning to read
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Fredrick Douglass learning to read and write, tells the story on how Douglass learned to read and write with little to no help. Douglass had a mistress that help him start the journey. But soon the mistress was told to ceased to instruct Douglass. Douglass watched her become a very heavy-hearted woman. When Douglass’s mistress first saw her, she didn’t see him as personal property.
Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass The purpose of the essay is to explain why Douglas believed knowledge is an avenue to freedom. By reading the essay the reader will learn throughout Douglas’s experience as a slave, he finds that masters consistently seek to deprive their slaves of knowledge. This way slaves feel powerless . However, Douglas as a slave knows that white man can keep the black race as slaves only if the slaves were kept illiterate.
In “Learning to Read,” by Frederick Douglass, he lets us know how he learned to write and read. He had to overcome trouble in order to learn. He would read and write while no one would be watching him. Douglass was not allowed to read or write anything while being in the house. His mistress would get mad if she caught him doing so.
In “learning how to read and write,” Fredrick Douglass tells about how he achieved the ability to read and write. Thou, it seems like an easy task, Douglass accomplished his goals in a time where society condoned slavery. Despite all the barriers Douglass faced, he accomplished his journey, and learned to read and write; therefore engaging the audience to overcome any obstacles just as he did.
Reading the essay and thinking about the experiences Douglass went through to achieve what he wanted; which was the ability to read and write. I think the main idea relates to me by telling me the reader, that education is something so essential to knowing the truth in the words of others, and mastering the ability know about your past. Even though Douglass’s mistress stop teaching after a while, and always tried to prevent him from getting any sort of reading done, that obstacle never stopped him from formulating plans to counteract that depravity. That sense of determination to me outweighed anything that would ever stand in his way. Knowing that mind set Douglass had, constantly reminds myself of a period of time that happened to me when I was a little child.
In “Learning to Read and Write” by Fredrick Douglass, Douglass went through many obstacles to learn to read and write. He was living with the Hugh family for quite some time about seven years. Douglass’s first learned the alphabet from his mistress. Douglass goes on about how his mistress is so kind and nice to him even though she eventually converted to her husband practices and dehumanized him. According to Douglass, he says, “She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness.
Frederick Douglass, a 19th-century African-American activist for the abolition of slavery, was a slave for first two decades of his life. Consequently, his oppressed position was the main root cause of all obstacles he faced during his early years, as discussed by him in essay “How I Learned to Read and Write”. The first obstacle he witnessed was his inability to read because of his mistress’ attitude who ceased to instruct him and grew to believe that, “Education and slavery were incompatible with each other”. It was an obstacle because young Frederick did not have a teacher who would create a learning program for him, and thus his learning to read became more difficult, and it was rather chaotic and unstructured. However, Douglass overcame
Frederick Douglass talks about how growing up in slavery affected him and how he learned to read a little from his master's wife. When her husband found out about it he was furious so Douglass had to turn to kids in the streets to teach him. Frederick Douglass took the risk of learning to read and write when he was forbidden to. In the outcome of the risk Frederick Douglass took he learns to read and write and realizes the horror of his circumstances. He wrote¨ It had given me the view of my wretched condition, without the remedy.¨ (paragraph 7,Douglass).
In “Learning to Read and Write,” the writer, an abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, wanted to learn ‘how to write and read, bud there was struggles throughout his process, and eventually accomplished his goal by reaching out for help. Throughout the authors writing he taught me that it was okay to struggle and fail even in the toughest moments in life, but it shouldn’t discourage you from achieving in life. Douglas has educated me that taking time and effort is one of the main keys that helps reach out a goal and feel like you have done a better impact in your own life. Also, helped me understand that reaching out for help could have a better impact than doing things independently.
Frederick Douglass in his narrative “Why I learned to Read and Write” demonstrates how he surpassed many obstacles along the way towards getting an education. These obstacles not only shaped Frederick’s outlook on life but also influenced him in his learning to read and write. Frederick’s main challenge was that of not being an owner of his person but rather a slave and a property to someone else. Frederick Douglass lived in the time when slavery was still taking place and slaveholders viewed slavery and education as incompatible. The slave system didn’t allow mental or physical freedom for slaves; slaveholders were to keep the apt appearance and slaves were to remain ignorant.
The acquisition of literacy was so important to Frederick douglass because it was something he couldn’t have. Douglass first realized he craved education when his mistress stopped teaching him. Douglass thought of reading as a curse, “It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (24). He could see the potential an education gave a person, but because he was a slave, there lies a large obstacle that allowed him to maximize his potential. Douglass asked the white boys who were being handed an education to carry their books so he could read and learn from them.
Douglass in “Learning to Read and Write” identified that there is no end to learning; there was always more to find out about or hear a different opinion on. Because of learning, he heard the word abolition for the first time. Just the thought of becoming free was enough for Douglass to continue striving to acquire information. The ability to read allowed him to learn more about current events than his fellow slaves which in turn gave him ideas about freedom. Education ultimately brought him to freedom which dramatically increased his quality of
According to Mistress Hugh, “education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglass, 33). Although Mistress Hugh had stopped teaching Douglass how to read, the seed of knowledge had already been planted. In the years that followed, his hunger for knowledge did not dissipate. Douglass devised various methods to learn to read and write in very clever ways.
“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is a personal narrative which describes a specific time in his childhood when he was learning to read and write. Born as a slave in the pre-Civil War south, Douglass was not expected to be literate. However, through strong ambition, Douglass overcame restrictions and stereotypes placed on slaves and taught himself to read and write. Later in his life, Frederick Douglass wrote down this story in his book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Today, students and adults can enjoy this narrative on how he overcame the struggles of learning how to read and write.
However, literacy turns out to be not only bliss, but also painful. Indeed, while learning to read Frederick becomes more and more aware of the injustices of slavery, and this leads him to regret this knowledge “Learning how to read had become a curse rather than a blessing” ( Douglass ) . Douglass believes in the importance of education. He thinks that education is a key part to our life; it is the only way to get freedom. Literacy is very powerful because it can set anyone free to pursue dreams.
