Essay On Frederick Douglass Learning To Read

Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass both came from an African American background but the time difference of these two men when they were brought to the world changed. Malcolm X had a rough life. His dad was mysteriously murdered and his mom was mentally ill and with no parent figure he got in to the street life. He got in to selling illegal substances and burglary. He was struggling financially as well. In 1946 Malcolm X age twenty at the time was sentenced to prison for 10 years for burglary. Both Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass had rough lives. Frederick Douglass born in the early 1800’s was born a slave for life. Even though racism was still around in Malcolm’s time it was even worse for Frederick Douglass during his time. Frederick Douglass had no education because salves at the time were not allowed to be taught. The only thing slaves were taught to do from a young age was to obey there master and that’s all they knew how to do. Frederick Douglass was very restricted on how to get an education but Malcolm was free.

Douglass also in his speeches liberated what Americans in this economy would have done with blacks. In his speech “what the blacks want” he states, “I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief.” (Douglass). Society’s “America” has already put us in a category. Race we are not superior or equal to no other. Economically we don’t have the means to live out what we strive for. Education wise we have none, we are not sufficient enough to read or write for us to have a better life. Douglass in this speech stresses to leave us alone we are cable of doing bad or good on our own. His would view principle of self-ownership, which he understood to include both the racial and equality.

One of the key arguments in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” as well as in other narratives about slaves is inequality. Douglass attempts to show us how African American slaves were still human beings like their white counterparts, there have been numerous instances where it is shown that many whites did not want to accept slaves as true humans. Frederick

Malcom X once said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” This quotation means that education is an important thing, and we should prepare for our future. Fredrick Douglass and Malcom X are two different men who write similar aspects. Fredrick Douglass is a slave, and Malcom X is a criminal, both were deprived of obtaining a higher sense of education. They are two activists who grew up to realize the importance of an education, in reading and writing. In Frederick Douglas’s essay “Learning to Read and Write” and Malcolm’s “Learning to Read” one can compare and contrast the analysis both essays.

When comparing two essays, there are many different aspects that the reader can look at to make judgments and opinions. In the two essays that I choose, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. 'Letter from Birmingham Jail', and FREDERICK DOUGLAS'S 'From Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,' there were many similarities, but also many differences. Some of them being, the context, style, structure and tone. Many times when readings or articles are being compared, people over look the grammatical and structural elements, and just concentrate on the issues at hand. I believe it is important to evaluate both.

The subject matter of both excerpts can be easily compared. It seems like Malcolm X went through a lesser version of what Frederick went through. Both writers access to a sense of freedom when they began learning how to read and write. It is obvious that Malcolm would spend a portion of his excerpt talking about the time he spent in jail while Douglass would talk about the burdens of slavery. Learning how to read and write was like a forbidden apple to both writers. So getting that first bite opened their eyes to all the things around them that the whites tried to conceal. Frederick Douglass had spent his early years in slavery and the harsh conditions of slavery cannot in be compared to jail, where everyone (black or white) is treated like a criminal. Both writers, Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass both use similar yet different subject matters in their excerpts.

Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read and Write”, Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”. How does one compare the struggles between them. First off Mr. Douglass, “Learning to Read and Write” is not truly comparable with any of the other reading options, and to force comparisons would belittle Mr. Douglass's struggles to do so. Every other reading option had to endure unfair treatment and racism but no one was born into slavery as Mr. Douglass was. Whereas every other reading option had access to underfunded and unequal schools, Mr. Douglass was not afforded these options so order to learn he had to hide it for fear of being beat or killed. “I lived in Master Hugh's family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagem”(Douglass 1). Mr. Douglass not only wanted to learn but had a deep driving need to learn for it was his only route to escape slavery. “I resolved to run away. I looked forward to a time at which it would be safe for me to escape. I was too young to think of doing so immediately; besides, I wished to learn how to write,as I might have occasion to write my own pass. I consoled myself with the hope thatI should oneday find a good chance” (Douglass 3). Mr. Douglass not only had to overcome being a slave for life but had a deep distrust for others thinking they would betray him ”for I feared they might be treacherous.White men have been known to

In the narrative excerpt “Learning to Read and Write” (1845), which originally came from the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass recapitulates his journey into the coming of literacy that shifts his point to how slavery really is. Douglass develops and supports his main idea by providing a flashback of his own experience as a slave learning to read and write and through dialogue with rhetorical appeals, such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Douglass’ apparent purpose is to retell his story of the obstacles he faced to finally become a free man to guide and prompt other fellow slaves to finally take action for their freedom; he also wants to establish a foundation in which people of higher power, such as abolitionists, are more aware of the slavery situation. The intended audience for this excerpt is the general public of the time consisting of fellow slaves, slave owners, and abolitionists; the relationship Douglass establishes with the audience is equivalent to a news reporter and the people receiving the message—he exposes the truth to them.

By this I mean that he gained improvements in areas such as literacy when he was belonged to Mr. Auld, he gained new friends when he resided with the Hughs, and most important,, he gained consciousness and courage while he was lent to a slave breaker, Mr. Covey. Little by little as Douglass gained in these assets which eventually became his tool for his departure from slavery.Another similarity between these two narrations is the assimilation of a created character by the authors themselves. The chronology and the events that happened in the lives of the authors in their narrations remained questionable. They picked the events that would only exemplify the characters that they want to portray. Thus, even though both works are autobiographical, their roles they claimed to be in their narration are exaggerated. Remember that they want to set themselves up as poor, down beaten characters at the beginning and slowly rise to power and success. For example, Franklin used descriptions such as "I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuff'd out with shirts and stockings... with a roll under each arm, and eating the other," to really give reader a sense of "his" conditions when he ran away. Douglass used the same approach to stress his poor conditions. The use of comparison of his slave status with farm animals and great

Fredrick Douglass, Malcolm X, and Sandra Cisneros are all similar in ways they learned. But, they were very different from the ways they were grown up or they’re backround. They wanted to learn to read and write for reasons, and learned to in different ways. They all had backrounds distinct to each others but it seemed they were all poor. They were also “jailed” both literally and forms of it.

After reading the frederick douglass book and the article on slave girl in california i found that there are very opposing themes such as religion and faith as well .In the Frederick douglass book and the article slave girl in california there is a lot of similar things that they have in common like the fact that they both had to endure pain in the frederick douglass book this guy that was the slaveholder his name was plummer.

How does Douglass being a slave and Malcolm X being a prisoner result in their substandard educations? How do both of them relate education to freedom? First off Douglass having a substandard education is directly related to him being a slave, since at the time teaching a slave how to read or write was a punishable crime in some areas. Whereas Malcolm X being a prisoner was not the cause of his substandard education but rather the solution to it. The real cause for Malcolm X substandard education was due to him dropping out of school at a young age. It was not until he was arrested and sent to prison that he found the desire to educate himself. So back to the question of how both men relate education to freedom. Douglass related education

but there are some obvious similarities such as immigration. Some examples on how the two texts are similar, the authors are neutral towards immigration because they have both negative and positive impacts such as losing family and having a better

Slavery gave many similar trials to all the African Americans. However, the lives of Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were more different than similar when they were slaves. The differences between their lives mostly come from being opposite genders, as the man deals with more physical and mental afflictions, whereas the woman suffers physical and social afflictions.

When some people do not have the same familiarity with English through education, they take it as a challenge and find the motivation to master it. Malcolm X had some understanding of reading, but never had a full understanding of what he read like his inmate Bambi. Therefore, he took it as a way to motivate himself to gain a greater understanding of reading through studying the encyclopedia and dictionary in the prison library. On the other hand, Douglass did not have the education to start with as Malcolm X. He learned the basics of reading through his mistress, and from then on he made it his journey to achieve and master the reading and writing skill. He managed to gain the knowledge of reading and writing through other people. Once his mistress stopped teaching him how to read he would manage to grab bread and give it to the poor white children in exchange for reading. "...I wished to learn how to write, as I might have occasion to write my own personal pass. I consoled myself with the hope that I should one day find a good chance. Meanwhile, I