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Summary Of How I Learned To Read And Write By Frederick Douglass

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The zeitgeist or cultural climate of the 1800s recognizes slavery as the social standard. In the memoir, “How I Learned to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass experiences the social standard of slavery which results in cold-hearted conduct from his slaveholders. His master, Mr. Auld, acknowledges Douglass as a beast only capable of obeying. But Mr. Auld’s wife, Mrs. Auld, acknowledges Douglass’s potential to learn, therefore, teaches him to read. Mr. Auld discovers his wife’s lessons and forbids her to teach Douglass. Obeying her husband, Mrs. Auld stops teaching and enforces disciplinary acts upon Douglass. Mr. Auld’s influence on his wife conveys his devious intentions for control. Therefore, the destructive underlying motives of human nature …show more content…

Selfishness derives from the lack of morals. Mrs. Auld exudes benevolence by teaching Douglass to read. But Douglass’s master demonstrates dissolute morals by restricting Douglass from the opportunity to read. Douglass’ master warns, “He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master” (Douglass, 2014, p. 130). The master’s values originate from his self-centered belief to serve himself. The human’s survival instinct involves meeting the needs of oneself over others. Mr. Auld imposes his beliefs on his wife, perverting her thought process and stripping away her untainted principles: “Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness” (Douglass, 2014, p. 131). The innate actions to survive produce selfish tendencies, resulting in a disregard for others. Chaste morality dissipates when the focus on survival of oneself replaces helping …show more content…

Power-hungry individuals force others into submission. Mr. Auld’s superficial desires manipulate his wife’s generous deeds that Douglass praises: “She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach” (Douglass, 2014, p. 131). In treasuring human worth, individuals seek to preserve human life. Mr. Auld seeks control over his wife teaching Douglass to read, therefore changing her way of thinking. Mrs. Auld adopts her husband’s ideals, initiating “the first step in her downward course… She now commenced to practice her husband’s precepts. She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself” (Douglass, 2014, p. 131). The drive for approval divests an individual’s sense of goodness toward others, allowing corruption to set in. Seeking approval manipulates one’s decisions. The sway of power perverts the human conscience, developing wicked

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In paragraph 7 of an excerpt of Frederick Douglass's "Learning to Read and Write," he talks about "regretting [his] own existence." With his skills of literacy and comprehension of English, Douglass overhears people talking about the abolitionists. He listens intently, and over time infers the context of being an abolitionist as "anything wrong in the mind of a slaveholder. " Unfortunately for him, his "dictionary afforded [him] little to no help." Persistent and unabashed, Douglass continues to attempt to decipher the "act of abolishing.

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In the article, “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, he achieved to learn how to read and write in the time of slavery in Maryland. At a young age he learned how to be literate. But then he was a slave that not only thought about being free but wanted to learn how to read and write. His mistress only helped him to learn the alphabet, but he was also accused of reading, so she never trusted him to be near a newspaper, book or anything that had to do with reading. Sometimes he would get sent to run errands and he tries to finish it fast so he can read a part in a book that he found or get some lessons.

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Illiteracy: So Am I A Part Of The Democracy Or Not Frederick Douglass’s (Learning to Read and write) written in 1845 is able to complicate Jonathan Kozol’s (The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society) written in 1967. Kozol writes about people needing to be literate to become a part of the democracy and be considered a full citizen.

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Frederick Douglass’s 1845 excerpt, “Learning to Read and Write” (paragraphs 7+8), shifts from slavery and abolitionism to learning how to write as a slave, utilizes homogenous analogies, parallel structure, and anaphoras, in order to show that although “learning how to write” is a “treacherous” and a “long, tedious effort” for slaves, hard work will eventually lead to success. Homogenous analogies, such as the fruit of abolition and the light breaking upon Douglass, accentuate how the word “abolition” can literally bring a person closer to freedom. For instance, Douglass mentions how a slave who “ran away” or “set fire to a barn” is associated with abolition. It took Douglass sometime to acquire the definition of “abolition” because he had

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In Fredricks Douglas passage "Learning to read and write" the sensory detail that was most reiterated was the sense of sight. From describing his interactions with his master's wife and mistress to the detailed descriptions of the encounters he had with multiple people in his surroundings that aided in his ability to learn to read and write. Douglas says in the passage that the more he read, the more he was led to abhor and detest his enslavers. Every opportunity Douglas had to set his sights on material where he could read books, write letters, and mimic signatures and various writings he took advantage of. In the passage he describes many scenes that were placed in front of him such as his masters Copy-book in which he copied everything he

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Learning To Read and Write is an autobiography Written by Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born into slavery, and moved into his final master’s home when he was a young boy. From the start Douglass was giving schooling from his mistress, however this came to an abrupt ending when Douglass’ master walked into a lesson and became furious. In spite of his lessons coming to an end, Frederick Douglass was determined to learn to read and write so he could escape his life of slavery and enter a new found life of freedom. With his determination Douglass was ready to do anything to learn.

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However, these feelings induced by Mrs. Auld soon turn to hatred and remorse as “the fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that

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Before I began reading excerpt on Frederick Douglass the first thing I did was read the title. The title provides the topic of what the excerpt will be about. For this excerpt the title was, Learning to Read and Write. After reading the title I came up with the assumption that the reading would be about how Frederick Douglass came to learn to read and write. Then I proceeded to read the small paragraph which gave me a little background of Frederick Douglass.

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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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The three pertinent similar events and attitudes are the: essentially absent mother, the illusive father and the very religious but terribly violent slaveholders. , [and the description of plantations and the name and characteristics of most slaveholders]. In addition, another interesting event that is present in both works is the relationship of Douglass his mistress, Mrs. Auld. Lastly, though perhaps not the most obvious similarity was that Douglass, though with varying degree of detail, remarks of his experience in Sabbath school as a teacher to other

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In his essay "Learning to Read and Write," Frederick Douglass points out how he learned to read and write on his own. Douglass's interest of reading started at a young age when he first read a newspaper. This made Douglass decide one day to come up with a plan on how he can improve his reading. One way Douglass did this was by asking other kids to teach him when they could. In addition, Douglass would always carry around a book to read when he had time on his hands.

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“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free,” wrote Fredrick Douglass. Not only is this true to me but it is also inspirational. The means to learn, understand the world around you, or even communicate would not be possible if you couldn’t read. Reading opens up so many opportunities for everybody that learns to do it. Once you learn to read you have the means to succeed.

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