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Frederick Douglass Literacy Essay

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“The pen is mightier than the sword.” This phrase credited to Edward Bulwer-Lytton has often been repeated in various forms since the 1840s; however, it takes for granted one important element: literacy. The written word has no power beyond the literacy of the audience. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Fredrick Douglass recounts his journey to literacy and its impact on his life. The article showcases his endeavor to learn to read and write and the power it brought him while living in a country that tended to look down on his race. Literacy is a powerful tool for improving one’s environment and status.
Douglass’s literacy journey began while under the bonds of slavery. He shares how his mistress was initially …show more content…

“If I was in a separate room any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book,” he wrote (Douglass, 1845). He also had ideas to learn anytime he went out on an errand. While running errands, he came up with a plan. He planned to make friends with all the little white boys who he met in the street. He furthered his education by trading what bread he had on him with those boys. With their aid, he finally succeeded in learning to read. He wished that he could be as free as them, and they helped him acquire more power toward achieving his freedom by improving his …show more content…

However, Douglass's life proves the power of literacy to change one’s situation. Douglass once said that knowledge was a “more valuable bread” than physical bread. I agree with his sentiment, if one has enough to eat for survival. If someone is starving, then physical bread is more valuable. However, even if it means going hungry, acquiring knowledge is akin to acquire the power to change your situation. I agree with Douglass that learning the alphabet was the initiated his path to freedom. I believe Douglass's life is an example of how increased literacy improves self-realization and increase someone’s power to change their situation. I also agree that using that power to improve one’s on situation is not sufficient. Douglass used his power with words to to inform and inspire others. We should follow his example on that

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“As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing” (Douglass 45). Frederick Douglass learned, against all odds, to read, and became literate; he spent his time absorbing all the knowledge that he could. However, as Douglass states, and as I do partially concur, that the ability of learning is at times a curse rather than a blessing for more reasons than one, but at the same time I do not believe that this is always the case. “It has given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy.

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Paper Two Fredrick Douglass’ essay “Learning to Read and Write” narrated how he accomplished to teach himself how to read and write. Maneuvering through many obstacles, he managed to use his advantages to learn. He talks about his struggles and the hard ships he went through at a young age to lead him to where he is now. I agree with Douglass’ main point in the essay being how hard it was for him to learn. He gives clear examples of how being a slave and wanting to learn was very hard back in them 1800’s.

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In “Learning to Read and Write,” the writer, an abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, wanted to learn how to write and read, but there were struggles throughout his process, and eventually accomplished his goal by reaching out for help. Douglass was born into slavery, his master's wife started to teach him the alphabet, but eventually was diminution of knowledge by her husband. Therefore, this circumstance did not persevere Douglass to hindrance reading. Instead, Douglass seek for help from little white boys by giving them food and in return they gave him proficiency of knowledge. Additional, Douglass expanded his awareness of education after reading The Columbia Orator which acquainted with being able to have his own thoughts opening the doors

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Many of us take education for granted and don’t learn to our fullest potential, but Fredrick Douglass soaked in every piece of information up because he knew it was his way out. “Learning to Read and Write” is a famous article based on what Fredrick Douglass went through to earn a valuable education while being enslaved. Author Fredrick Douglass, wrote “Learning to Read and Write”, published in 1845. Throughout the article, he takes us through different events he goes through while being enslaved. Douglass begins building his credibility with personal facts and successfully demonstrating logic and pathos appeal.

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When Douglass had to run an errand he always to his book with him along with a piece of bread. Due to the white kids that were helping him being poor and hungry he exchanged bread for lesson on how to read and write. Learning allowed him to used these new skills towards helping his people after discovering the word

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“Learning to Read and Write” is a narrative writing that successfully grabbed the attention of readers in the context of society in Maryland between 1830–1840. Frederick Douglass, the author of the writing, was born a slave in 1818 in Maryland (Douglass 100). At that time, a slave who was able to read and write was unacceptable and like a crime in society. Douglass, an ambitious and strong-minded man, would learn to do both read and write. That was amazing!

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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

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At this point in time, Frederick Douglass can now use his literacy to teach others and eventually gain freedom for all. He composes a Sunday school to enlighten his, “loved fellow-slaves how to read” (Douglass 90). Clearly, with more and more slaves learning skills like reading, it leads them to understand the need for revolt just like Douglass learned. This education helped jumpstart the discontinuation of

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Slaves obtaining knowledge or an education were then viewed as unmanageable. One can see that through Frederick Douglass’s gain of education; Slavery began to look more than an imprisonment and his mind would not cease to think. With this depressing state of mind, Douglass would begin to plot for ways to obtain his education. Despite living in a country were teaching slaves was unpardonable, Frederick Douglass began to incorporate various ways for his education. He would hide in a separate room and would be suspected by his mistress that he could be reading a book.

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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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A theme that is found in the novel “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” is that being educated is essential for freedom and liberty. In the novel, Douglass shares his experience as a former slave and how he became free. However, if it weren’t for his ambition to learn how to read and write, Douglass may not have accomplished his goal to be a free slave. When Douglass went to live with Mr. Auld, his wife, Mrs. Auld, “kindly commenced to teach [him] the A, B, C” and “how to spell words”. Unfortunately, Mr. Auld discovered what was going on and apprised his wife about how perilous teaching a slave was and said, “if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him” and that he “would become unfit for

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Even though it is not easy to become literate, Douglass said, “I would at times feel learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing” (6). It does not matter who the person is, a free man or a slave, rich or poor, black or white, old or young, but learning how to read and write takes time and some efforts. We need to use “every opportunity…to read….”(Douglass 6), like Douglass did. Despite of his position of a non-free man he used every book, every word, every newspaper and every human he met in his life for self-education, for his development, “they [books] gave me tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul” (Douglass 6).

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Douglass states: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Douglass 51). Reading and writing opened Frederick Douglass’s eyes to the cause of the abolitionist. He became knowledgeable about a topic that white slave owners tried to keep hidden from their slaves. Literacy would eventually impact his life in more ways than what he could see while he was a young slave under Master Hugh’s

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To the common scholar, reading is the foundation for the enormous structure entitled “knowledge”. To the slave of the 1800’s, reading was a curse, a source of worry for him and his wellbeing. Frederick Douglass so brilliantly exemplifies this in his self-written biography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. However, his apparently minor inconvenience in the timeline of the history of man is greatly minimized by the fruits which it brought forth. Reading may have been the temporary source of pain for Douglass, but it was a permanent blessing, both historically and politically, for those who followed.

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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.

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