Douglas, Frederick. "Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave". Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE. 21 Jan 2009 http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/07.html.
This chapter from Frederick Douglass’s Autobiography describes how he learned to read and write as a slave who was forbidden to do so. His first exposure to literacy was from his master’s wife. She began to teach him by starting with the alphabet but then stopped after the insistence of her husband. Indeed, she began to treat Douglass quite poorly following this event and lashed out in anger towards him whenever she suspected him of reading. Nevertheless, Douglass continued his pursuit of literacy by befriending other poor, hungry white children that taught him to read in exchange for food. These children also pitied his condition in bondage and comforted him by saying that he should be freed someday.
Learning to read led Douglass to read books on the conditions of slavery, arguments for and against it, and made him aware of the terrible conditions that he and others like him had continued to face. He learned how they were stolen from Africa and had been brought here under terrible conditions. For Douglass, learning to read and learning of the terrible conditions of slavery became a great burden for him. His words tell of the agony he felt, “It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity.” His feelings about slavery at this point, being so strong, led him to learn about abolition and how others, the abolitionists in the north, would provide him and other slaves an avenue of freedom. This, in turn, led Douglass to continue his education in literacy and learn to write well from his master’s son’s writing handbooks so that he could write his own pass to freedom.
This entire chapter is quite strong and insightful with the most powerful being the seventh paragraph where Douglass wrote of the painful knowledge he gained of the atrocities of slavery via his newfound literacy. His literacy here is analogous to the “forbidden fruit” in the Garden of Eden in that he learned not only of the good that can be learned by being able to read but also of the evils that he learned of via literacy as well. Despite his anguish he felt from learning of the evils of slavery and his wish that he had remained ignorant, he pressed on and decided to do something about this—he began to write. This not only would lead to his eventual freedom, but it allowed him to eventually tell his story so that others could learn of his struggle to not only acquire literacy but, most importantly, freedom.
This chapter really shows explicitly what literacy can mean for us. 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. Douglass’s writing here shows us how he thought and what he did. Without such a work, history would be devoid of his struggle for literacy, knowledge, and freedom and we would be missing out on an important lesson on what literacy can do for one and all.
Learning to read led Douglass to read books on the conditions of slavery, arguments for and against it, and made him aware of the terrible conditions that he and others like him had continued to face. He learned how they were stolen from Africa and had been brought here under terrible conditions. For Douglass, learning to read and learning of the terrible conditions of slavery became a great burden for him. His words tell of the agony he felt, “It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity.” His feelings about slavery at this point, being so strong, led him to learn about abolition and how others, the abolitionists in the north, would provide him and other slaves an avenue of freedom. This, in turn, led Douglass to continue his education in literacy and learn to write well from his master’s son’s writing handbooks so that he could write his own pass to freedom.
This entire chapter is quite strong and insightful with the most powerful being the seventh paragraph where Douglass wrote of the painful knowledge he gained of the atrocities of slavery via his newfound literacy. His literacy here is analogous to the “forbidden fruit” in the Garden of Eden in that he learned not only of the good that can be learned by being able to read but also of the evils that he learned of via literacy as well. Despite his anguish he felt from learning of the evils of slavery and his wish that he had remained ignorant, he pressed on and decided to do something about this—he began to write. This not only would lead to his eventual freedom, but it allowed him to eventually tell his story so that others could learn of his struggle to not only acquire literacy but, most importantly, freedom.
This chapter really shows explicitly what literacy can mean for us. 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. Douglass’s writing here shows us how he thought and what he did. Without such a work, history would be devoid of his struggle for literacy, knowledge, and freedom and we would be missing out on an important lesson on what literacy can do for one and all.
I must say, as I read through Douglass's difficult ascension into literacy that the parallels between being a slave and being illiterate really impacted me. I had never before really understood the signifigance of the importance that Douglass placed on his literacy learning, other than he wanted to be able to have the necessary tools to escape. Yet, after reading through his learning process, I feel that he cared more about wanting to become literate to free himself mentally, becoming a self-aware human being. This was the first time I associated being free (as in slavery) with being literate and able to apply critical thinking to everyday situations. For this reason, I have come to the conclusion that mental constraints must be identified and destroyed to become a truly free individual in any society. Thanks, Fredrick Douglass, you're the shit.
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