Forbidden Fruit: The Lives Of Malcolm X And Frederick Douglass

Forbidden Fruit Imagine living in a world where you are completely oblivious to the reality surrounding you. Forever deprived from knowledge due to the fact of the color of your skin. This was the life of Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass; two African American men who were faced with tough obstacles such as lack of knowledge, social status, and generally trying to survive in a white man’s world. In the past, African Americans were subjected to harsh living conditions. Many tried to escape this fate but for most of the times have failed. Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass somehow manage to overcome the burden of lacking in knowledge by performing tasks that allowed them to gain an education.

Education shapes the mind and opens its doors to the world and all of its influence. A lot of people view as education being a good thing while others say that it is a curse disguised as a blessing. A quote from the excerpt Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass reads, “As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out.” (Douglass, page. 35) In this quote it could be clearly stated that Douglass suffered from learning the harsh reality in which he lived in. There was no escape from the burden of wisdom because one cannot easily erase something they have learned from their mind. Before, Douglass was just a regular slave; ignorant to the world and did what he was told by his master. It was not until he was introduced to spelling words and reading them that he became aware of his surroundings. He slowly over time absorbed more knowledge and began to realize the cruel condition of the world he lived in. Although, even if he suffered mental pain from coming to the realization of his environment, he pushed forward and learned more. All that education soon paid off when he could be able to finally read and write. The wisdom that he gained eventually brought

Some people prefer to not know something for it could severely tear them down mentally. When I was young I did not know much about everything. I was blissfully unaware of the reality of things until education seeped into my life and opened my eyes to the cruel world. For an example, when I was only five-years old, the twin towers located at Manhattan, New York City, was brutally attacked by terrorists. As a kid I did not think much about it until my parents and even teachers explained it to me thoroughly of the situation. I came to realize that a lot of people died in that incident and many were severely injured. Many people lost loved ones and even caused panic throughout the United States. This incident also caused many people to fear those from the Middle East and even drove some to become racist and judgmental towards that specific group. After I gained this wisdom I felt a heavy indescribable pain that left me dazed. I was scared because I realized that life isn’t always happy and wonderful. I came to conclude that the world is a dangerous place that could easily tarnish the innocence of a child through life itself. In contrast, Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass also must’ve felt the same mental pain that I felt when I registered the fact of the death of many lives. Both X and Douglass can share the similarity of knowing