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Frederick Douglass And Jhumpa Lahiri

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Frederick Douglass once stated, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” This simple yet profound statement is relevant to countless scenarios in life. For Douglass, this quote is a direct reflection of his time as a slave. Without the challenges of slavery, he never would have progressed into a famous writer and orator. Frederick Douglass’ words can also be applied to Jhumpa Lahiri in her literary work, “Trading Stories.” While Lahiri was not a slave, she also had to overcome her own personal struggles to progress in her writing career. Both Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” and Lahiri’s “Trading Stories” illustrate the torment, triumph, and struggle with existence felt by both authors on their journey to achieve their goals. …show more content…

After Douglass taught himself how to write, he began to feel a sense of pride. He would often find himself in competitions with others. Douglass explains, “After that, when I met with any boy who I knew could write, I would tell him I could write as well as he” (Douglass 105). This is one example of Douglass regaining his sense of self-confidence. In addition, he formed relationships through reading and writing. He discusses how much respect and gratitude he has for the school boys who taught him how to read. Douglass also engaged in relationships through his writing competitions. In comparison, Lahiri also experienced great joy from writing. She experienced a sense of belonging in her everyday life, among her peers and her family. Lahiri credits writing with helping her form her very first friendships in school. Lahiri recalls, “When I began to make friends, writing was the vehicle” (Lahiri 3). Writing was an effective tool in her connection with others. In addition, Lahiri always battled with finding her true place. As an American whose first language is Bengali, she never completely fit in with her Bengali family or her American friends. A writing career was the perfect solution to these feelings of displacement because she could write anywhere. Lahiri makes this connection known in “Trading Stories,” writing, “When I became a writer my desk became home; there was no need for another” (Lahiri 9). Even though Douglass felt tremendous uncertainty from reading and Lahiri from writing, they were both able to overcome it due to the immense joy writing

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In the essays, “The Joy of Reading and Writing; Superman and Me” and Frederick Douglass’s “Chapter 7: Learning to Read and Write”, Sherman Alexie and Frederick Douglass write about their hardships and challenges they faced while learning how to read and write due to their social economic status. Despite the fact that Alexie and Douglass are incredibly different people, they both use education for freedom and a sense of self-worth. Alexie and Douglass both struggled to receive education and struggled mentally and physically because of their social economic status. Although, Alexie and Douglass both experienced these hardships, they saw the world through a totally different perspective. Alexie saw the world in a more positive manner than Douglass

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Abolitionism was a well-known movement around the time of the Civil War and its aim was to put an end to slavery. The people of the early nineteenth century viewed the elimination of slavery in numerous ways. Some fought against the end of slavery, some appeared to mildly support the cause and yet others wholeheartedly supported the ending of slavery until their dying day. Charles Finney was a religious leader who promoted social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. He also fought for equality in education for women as well as for African Americans.

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Douglass was so determined to become literate that he learned in so many unorthodox ways that it made him a better thinker, reader, and writer. As a child Douglass got his hands on The Columbian Orator, which instilled an influx of ideas in his mind. Although with the spark the Columbian Orator arisen, Douglass wasn’t able to do much with it because he was unable to create a coherent answer or response to the questions and ideas he had. With the arrival of these thoughts also brought along heartache. He was a prisoner to his own mind, when he learned to read he got a rude awakening by being aware of his situation as a slave.

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Fredrick Douglas and Benjamin Franklin are both one of the most famous successful in American history. They both followed a certain milestone to make them successful. Even though they are considered hard workers, they both have different obstacles and different views in their lifestyle. Fredrick Douglas used to be a slave who was a fugitive and Benjamin Franklin was young white man who had a rough time with his parent because his parents are very abusive to him. By comparing the difference and similarities by these two great people in American history even though they had their rough times, that does not stop them from their success.

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Douglass belong to a well off family. The woman of the house thought him how to read and write some things. Until her husband found out that she was teaching him, then she suddenly stopped and was angry at Douglass, when he was reading. They felt like he would listen to the Irishman when he said “They both advised me to run away to the north; that I should find friends there, and that I should be free.” After losing his only source of teaching he resorted to the lest fortunate white kids for help.

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Douglass got a new viewpoint on slavery when he moved to Baltimore and lived with his new master Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia, who taught Douglass the alphabet for a while until her husband reprimanded her. Douglass learned the rest of the alphabet and how to read from his white friends in town and practiced everyday by himself. He had a fascination with abolitionist newspapers and continually read The Columbian Orator. This was a major turning point in Douglass’s life, reading about abolitionists and free slaves gave him the strength and hope he needed to one day escape and become the man he is. He now had a greater

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When most people think of a hero, they may think of a fireman, police officer, or a soldier. Although this is true, my definition of a 'hero ' is someone who does something dangerous or brave to save another. Someone who just doesn 't get themselves out of a situation, but they also reach out and try to save the others. There are only a select few people who are brave, compassionate and selfless enough, to spend their days improving the world one act at a time with no regard for personal risk or reward. Frederick Douglass was such a man, and he saved the lives of many slaves.

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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.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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Douglass managed to overcome the maltreatment of his wretched slave owners through the eventual attainment of freedom. The injustice imposed upon the African-American slaves by their owners was the crux of Douglass’s motivation to escape this inhumane life. Adolescents in today’s society could use Frederick’s determination as an example of moving forward to better oneself or one’s situation regardless of

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560 Words | 3 Pages

“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.

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1067 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, we can see Douglass state in the Narrative that learning how to read changed his

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In Frederick Douglass’s narrative essay titled “Learning to Read” he recalls his journey to literacy. Throughout the essay Douglass reveals how he learned to read and write, despite the fact that education was strictly prohibited to slaves. Initially, Douglass learned how to read through his mistress, but he later learned from the little white boys on the streets. As for learning to write, he often times observed ship carpenters and replicated the copy-books of his Master’s son. Frederick Douglass did not have the same opportunities students have today, yet despite his adversities, Douglass was able to become a literate slave, and ultimately free himself from slavery with the power of

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850 Words | 4 Pages

Education gives hope for Douglass’s life since he began to truly understand what goes on in slavery. As he figured out more about the topic, his self- motivation poured out hope in his life. As Frederick saw an opportunity to become free, he worked hard to accomplish it. Masters and slaveholders believe teaching slaves is wrong, but with Douglass’s

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Douglass is always curious and he never gives up even when he finds several obstacles in his way, because he perfectly knows what his goal is: he needs an education to get his freedom. He is determined to get it even though it requires a lot of hard work. Douglass is sure of the potential of education. As a matter of fact he knows well that knowlegde can change his life while leading him to freedom. Douglass has both the motivation and the determination because he is aware that owing to education he can get to great places in his life, and that education makes the world a better place

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