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Learning To Read By Sue Monk Kidd

750 Words3 Pages

Enslaved people were prohibited to read by law– a law that restricts their power– a law that silences their voices. But to what extent will one go to learn how to read– to obtain their rightful power? In the poem, “Learning to Read” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Uncle Caldwell took a significant risk. Chloe, a freedwoman and former slave, talks about Uncle Caldwell’s determination to learn how to read. She says; “I remember Uncle Caldwell // Who took pot liquor fat // And greased the pages of his book, // And hid it in his hat” (13-16). As depicted in Chloe’s words, Uncle Caldwell learns how to read by hiding pages of knowledge in his hat; covering them in a coat of grease as another layer of protection. If Caldwell’s master were to look …show more content…

In the novel “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens takes a risk; a risk that makes lies turn into the truth of a honey bee– a truth that stings worse than a wasp. From the belongings of Lily’s mother, Lily and Rosaleen Daise find a photo of a Black Madonna– the mascot of the Boatwright’s honey business. This was the start of Lily’s discovery journey. After abandoning Lily’s abusive dad, they venture off into the Boatwright’s residence; lying about their identities to learn about the truth. After a few months, Lily confesses to August Boatwright; “‘Remember when…’ I said. My voice came out barely a whisper. I cleared my throat. ‘Remember when you said we should have a talk?’ She [August] closed the door. A sound so final. No turning back, it said. this is it, it said” (235). From the moment the door closed, her lies came the bewildering truth; the reason for the disappearance of Lily’s mother: Lily herself. Her persistent journey to find her queen– the journey that once broke her, warmed her, and healed her– ended up breaking her once again. Her naive fantasies of happily living with her mother were tarnished; heartbreak and rage blinded her heart. Love became resentment; empathy turned into ignorance– the truth she sought dearly was the blurred bullet she feared most. Lily’s route of vicissitude reveals the hammering swarm of stings the truth brings– especially when unprepared to face its facts. Curiosity nurtures like a bee pollinating a flower, but peeking too much will only bring a deadly bouquet of lilies to your

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As the bees have a mother to care for them and provide sustenance, so Lily has a mother for whom she yearns. Each of the bees has a job to do, and Lily is learning her own job at the Boatright

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Learning to Read and to write is a sample of Fredrick’s Douglass literature. An African- American who was born in Maryland and was supposed to become a slave for his entire life. In his piece of writing ‘’Learning to Read and Write’’, the author tells the reader how learning the basic rules of reading and writing was a challenge while being a slave. Besides being a young twelve year old boy who does not own his personal life, his doesn’t deserve the right to eradicate the disease of illiteracy from his life for the only reason that many other Africans and Indians suffer from, slavery. The first audience of Douglass’s text is everyone who read ‘’Narrative of the life’’ from which the text was excerpted as well as whoever is in the same situation as being a slave or feeling concerned

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859 Words | 4 Pages

People take risks, be adventurous and embrace the feeling of fear. In “Learning to Read” Chloe took a risk by learning how to read when she wasn’t supposed to. The outcome of that risk was that she became successful and got a cabin for herself and because she took that risk, she knew her rights and wrongs and that impacted a lot of laws and situations in modern-day life. In “ A Kenyan Teen’s Discovery: Let There Be Light to Save Lions”, Richard Turere took a risk by creating an invention made with a solar panel, indicator box, and a flashlight which was used to protect his livestock from the lions and to protect the lions from the humans trying to kill them. And lastly, in The Pearl, Kino, a Mexican diver discovers what seems to be the greatest

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889 Words | 4 Pages

The story "Learning to Read" by Frances Ellen Watkins, is about a slave named Chloe who wanted to read and it was not just her. " 'But some of us would try to steal A little from the book. And put the words together, And learn by hook or crook.' " Her fellow slaves also wanted to read and write, however some took the risk by stealing books and reading them at night and others did not. The slave owners did not like the fact that the slaves would be reading because they did not want to risk the slaves running away from their work because the slave owners were scared that they would out smart them.

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743 Words | 3 Pages

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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169 Words | 1 Pages

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.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

This shows how teaching a slave to read could get everyone in trouble. Though his journey was tough and he didn't have the best resources, he made it through an achieved his goal with perseverance. Douglass’

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1401 Words | 6 Pages

The Secret Lives of People The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is an interesting story that connects human lives to bees. The story takes place in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and fourteen year-old Lily Owens leaves her abusive father and her home in Sylvan, South Carolina to go to Tiburon with hopes to find information on her mother. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with many internal conflicts and also meets several mother figures along the way.

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1197 Words | 5 Pages

Moreover, during the years of slavery, teaching a slave how to read was very uncommon. Overtime,Ms.Hugh’s attitude had began to change and fade away, with slavery becoming a greater mean of power and mastery. When Ms. Hugh had a sudden change in mind, Fredrick had gained his knowledge by little white boys that

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959 Words | 4 Pages

Imagine that you are a child, trapped in an abusive house, and that there is no way to improve the potion you are in right now. Envision a tunnel of darkness where there is only fear with no sense hope. An indirect characterization of Lily, the protagonist, a symbolism of a wall that helps Lily cope with her emotions, and an illusion to a biblical event that changed the course of Lily’s life are incorporated throughout Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees to convey a message of hope. In particular, these literary devices are included throughout the novel to convey that a person is always capable of improving their quality of life.

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1026 Words | 5 Pages

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live in a small town, without a mom, and with an abusive dad? In the book The Secret Life of Bees, it takes you through the life of Lily Owens, a young girl who learns many truths about life. With the help of several people along the way, Lily learns about her late mother and learns to be a better person. She comes to learn about racism, the power of women, the impact of love on life, and she learns the key to forgiveness.

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392 Words | 2 Pages

African-American slaves were forbidden to obtain the knowledge of being able to read or write, stemming from the fear of white masters that educated slaves will overpower them. Douglass managed to learn to read by bribing poor and hungry white boys into teaching him in exchange for bits of bread. Douglass illustrates his thirst for literacy through “[The] bread [he] used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give [him] that more valuable bread of knowledge” (pg 23). This reveals how much Douglass valued education and took advantage of all the knowledge he had access to. Today’s youth, especially the ones belonging to a minority

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302 Words | 2 Pages

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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303 Words | 2 Pages

Learning to read Learning to read by Frederick Douglass encapsulates the story of a slave who was taught alphabets by her mistress who used to own him and was a relatively kind women then other slave owners and she used to be kind and gentle but the heart that slave owners possess eventually turns to stone and so did hers, meanwhile he started reading book s on his own, the courage and will to learn lead him to eventually learn how to write on his own, “The willingness of a salve in order to learn how to read and write is a tale worth telling”. (Douglass) The various issues that the African Americans had to face and that they beard for centuries also included not letting them how to read and right due to the fact that if someone learns about

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983 Words | 4 Pages

“A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love” (Connie May Fowler). This quote reflects the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd because the protagonist in the story, Lily Owens, her mother have died when she was four years old and she didn’t feel loved by her abusive father, T. Ray Owens, until she met the Boatwrights family with the housekeeper, Rosaleen, and stayed with them. The Boatwrights family are the three black sisters who are August, May, and June. This novel took place in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily grew up and where she found the answer to her questions.

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