Comment on Fredrick Douglas

Rosie Caldwell
English 329

Douglas, Frederick. "Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave"

Sean commented on the idea that being literate and having a working knowledge about the world is important. Reading this article and Sean’s response from it makes me think of ignorance is bliss compared to the idea that we, as a society, have an obligation be well educated and know how the world works. Because when a society is uneducated or unaware of things- they are putting themselves in a position of vulnerability. And uneducated population can fall victim to their leaders (as we have seen lately within our own country) If you do not know your rights, you cannot enforce them, if you do not know what is happening in the political realms, then you are not fully equipped to make decisions about the representatives that will be making the laws that will govern you and others. Sean states that “Although it will give us knowledge of the evils in the world, I feel that it is important for us to learn these issues and struggles that have taken place in our history so that we can understand where we, as a society, come from. We should not remain ignorant and illiterate so that we cannot feel the agony Douglass felt. We need to feel the agony as well as the ecstasy from literacy if we are to learn about ourselves and those that came before us: how they thought, what they did, and what they wrote.” I could not say it better…. education may bring to light the harsh truths or the horrors in the world, but it will also be a means of better understanding where your surroundings and the way the world works….