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Sherman Alexie And Frederick Douglass Essay

689 Words3 Pages

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 …show more content…

Slaves were not supposed to be able to read or write and this made it hard. His mistress always got mad anytime she saw him reading. It was hard for him to accept the things he had read since they gave him more details about his race and what he was going through. Douglass learning how to read and write caused him to deal with his readings emotionally and mentally. Alexie thought that him learning how to read made him smart and he was very proud of doing so. Alexie had all the books in his father’s house. Alexie had positive outlooks. After he learned, he wanted to teach other Indian boys. He was strong mentally with his abilities. Douglass thought that him learning how to read was more of a curse than a blessing. He had only read books about slavery and that discouraged him. This made him feel beaten down by his abilities. He faced great hardship due to his mental image of himself. He had to overcome the challenge of facing himself. Alexie and Douglass faced their hardships of their economic status and education by learning how to read and write. They overcame their challenges, although, they struggled along the way. Alexie and Douglass show their story to represent to others that may be in their position to have faith in all you do. Despite the fact that things get hard, it is how you finish that keeps you

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