Learning How to Write and Read by Frederick Douglas essay, is base on this little boy (Douglas) who was born slave. On his essay Douglas describes, how he teach himself in many ways how to read and write by stealing newspapers, copying his master handwriting, trading food for books with the poor street boys whom became his teachers. He talks about how wonderful nice and kind his mistress was at the beginning and how she started teaching him the alphabet an how she stops when her husband forbade her to instruct him because it was unlawful and unsafe to teach a slave how to read. Douglas mention on the essay the words he heard from his master telling to his mistress “…if you give a nigger and inch they will take the ell” (chapter VI) Douglas knew that his masters wasn’t happy for him learning how to read and this fact inspired him with determination to learn.
At some point he express that learning how to read was a curse rather than a blessing and he found himself envying the stupidity of the ignorance of his fellow slaves because that ignorance keep them away from being unhappy which was one of the things his master said could happen if he learn to read. Douglas also got to the conclusion that knowing how to write and read will no making free, he felt that the more he read the more he was filling his heart and soul with so much hate to his slavers. When Douglas learned how to read, got to the point of having a terrible view of his miserable and unhappy life and he discover himself wishing his own death, but even then he never stop himself from learning, when he felt that hopelessness filling of slave for life, he find new objectives.
The Essay on Fredrick Douglas Auld Frederick Slave
... learn and he did. Determination was the first step that led the boy in Douglas to becoming a man. Learning how to read illuminated Douglas' ... who oppressed and enslaved him. The masters of slaves were determined to keep their slaves ignorant so that they would not ... of his reputation, he had plenty of slaves because various masters would send their slaves to be broken. Covey barely owned anything ...
Douglas repeatedly heard the word abolition but didn’t knew the meaning, he look it up on the dictionary but didn’t give him a good description of the word which make him keep looking and notice that the word was always associated with the word slaves, which make him more curious of the real meaning of the word. until one day he saw on the City Newspaper something about prays for the abolition of the slavery, at the moment he knew the exact meaning of that word. Then he knew the word forever wasn’t exactly well used with slave after all. In conclusion Douglas and his “Learning How to Read and Write” describes the world he lived in and al the barriers he confront since his youth years.
Douglas was never a salve on mis mind because he was always looking for his way to make a difference, by learning how to read an write he escapes form his ignorance. Douglas express how learning didn’t make him a free man but gave him the knowledge to obtain the FREEDOM he always thought he deserved as a human being..
