Similarities Between Elbow And Frederick Douglass

“Learning to Read and Write” and “Freewriting” both accomplish the act of trying to express freedom of thought. With free expression, people are able to express themselves through writing. Not only does expressing the self through writing empower a person, but it also acts as motivation. Learning new things and trying to express them through writing down thoughts helps individuals understand themselves. Writing is what makes each individual different. Peter Elbow believes that freewriting is the most important tool in a writer’s toolbox. He views writing as a free flow of thoughts and feelings. Douglass, on the other hand, sees writing as a way to understand himself. Looking at their two different writing styles helps one to understand the

Douglass’ audience consists of white men, which hints that very few slaves knew how to read. His story desired an end to slavery. He tries to inform individuals of the hardships he endured as a slave. For example, when discussing the steps he went through to read and write, Douglass comments, “The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many as I could convert into teachers” (62). This shows the route he took in order to achieve his goal. He showed his audience that this is the process he went through. His audience can now see if slaves learned how to read and write, they could better themselves. He tried to distinguish the difference between speaking with voice and speaking through writing. Whatever comes into mind, write it down; using one’s voice lets a person write. The meaning of freewriting to Elbow is to be comfortable in what one is saying whether it makes sense or not. Both Elbow and Douglass successfully capture the attention of their individual audiences through their unique ways of