Four Miles To Pinecone Analysis

Thus he tells the story of Descartes. Descartes was a man going through what modern society calls, “a mid life crisis.” He was middle aged when felt like he had lost who he was. To remedy his crisis he locks himself in his house in the dark for six days. Here he breaks down his thinking process as well as his feelings and digests the facts. After solving his problem he comes out and writes “Meditations on First Philosophy.” Through the act of writing he resolves his problems and, gives his answers to the world. This is much like Mary Karr who in his final story solves her problems with her mom through writing a story. Mary lives a rough childhood where she is almost killed by her mom and accidently flown to Mexico all by the age of ten. Mary forgives and forgets the wrong her mother commits. Then many years later when her father’s health begins to decline she finds evidence of her mother’s evil past. Her mother hides her past because of fear of being rejected by her daughter and society. By writing the story Mary is able to put together her fragmented history, and learn who she really is.

Frederick Douglass’s determination has inspired me to earn my BA in Social Work. His life experience has inspired me to overcome similar obstacles. Douglass was a slave who learned how to read by his master producing a desire to learn more. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hugh stopped teaching him and even prevented him from reading. He was convinced that by learning he would achieve freedom but he had to overcome challenges.

1. Douglass taught himself how to read and write. At first, Douglass’s mistress taught him how to read the alphabet before her husband prohibited her from doing this. After that he started to teach himself how to read by reading books and newspapers, and how to write by copying his little Master Thomas’s written in the spaces left in the copy-book when his mistress goes to the class meeting every monday afternoon. However his most successfully way of teaching himself how to read was to make friends with the white boys whom he met in the street. He bribes them with food to get them to teach him. He also learned how to read and understand the meaning of the name on the timber.

Education is something that is often taken for granted in this day and age. Kids these days rebel against going to school all together. In the essays “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, we learn of two young men eager for knowledge. Both men being minors and growing up in a time many years apart, felt like taking how to read and write into their own hands, and did so with passion. On the road to a education, both Alexie and Douglass discover that education is not only pleasurable, but also painful. Alexie and Douglass both grew up in different times, in different environments, and in different worlds. They both faced different struggles and had different achievements, but they were not all that different. Even though they grew up in different times they both had the same views on how important of education was. They both saw education as freedom and as a way of self-worth even though they achieved their education in different ways. They both had a strong mind and a strong of sense of self-motivation.

Mr. Douglass was not rich whatsoever. As a matter of fact, he was a slave. He didn’t have much, but the young lad had two positive personality traits that guided him on his path to learning to read and write. Douglass was very perpetual. Despite the fact it took him longer due to not having a constant teacher, and not being able to get a chance to find a book or paper all the time, he refused to give up the fight. Do doubt about it, he was determined to learn the skill even if took until he was old and gray. Which it didn’t. He was also very resourceful with where he got his information and how he caught it. Whenever he found a book or paper, he would often collect it and read it. Other times he would give extra bread to the poor white kids in exchange for them giving him some more knowledge. Since he was a serf, food was not an issue, so he was able to use a little

The event that how slavery was wrong and that now that he was smart.He could see how bad it was see terrible things were and know one seem to notice. But before he could read and learn he didn't notice the condition he was in and how they didn't want him to learn. Anything because he was slave and wouldn't help him.In the story he realized that he as had a wonderful life he's had feels terrible for the slave who had a hard life were they didn't learn or read.

He also learned a lesson from his mistakes which ultimately creates a catharsis in the reading

But all these reasons were unknown to him in the beginning, he only saw learning as a positive thing, he is exciting and when she stopped teaching him he started developing strategies to learn. The first one was to make friends between the little white boys in the street, he used bread he stole from his house in order to “bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge”. When he was twelve “the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon [his] heart”, now reading from book put him in touch with a lot of different topics and makes him aware of how is the world around him. Here we have a change in his way of seeing knowledge, he wants to kill himself because he doesn’t have the remedy to free himself and to stop slavery in the larger system. He thinks that “learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given [him] a view of [his] wretched condition, without the remedy. In this situation we assist at the second strategy to learn, he understood how to write from the initials of those parts of the ship for which they were intended and later copying from the books of his mistress’ son, in this way finally succeeded in learning how to write. The most important thing in the passage is that after regretting his own existence because of “the power of

Douglass’ ability to read and write makes it so he is able to discover his self-pride. While Douglass is living with Mr. Auld again he

the characters. The story reminds his audience that a man is more than a father. He is

While he was at the shipyard he would see the shipmen taking the wood and writing the names of the shipments. He started to copy what was written on the shipments. To ensure he was on the right track to writing, anytime he encountered a boy he knew could write he would tell them he could too. Of course they didn’t believe him and wanted to see. When Master Thomas went to school he would bring home writing material and leave it laying around. When The Mistress was out of the home and left Fredrick to tend to the house he would copy what was written in the empty spaces in the book. He did this for years and taught himself to

his father from which he has not freed himself” (“Writer”). He has not been able to do so since

Ever since he bought his first book he said it changed his life. According to the passage he viewed the books as,”...a chance to see the world without leaving home.” He says that reading a book is not the same as reading a text. He thinks not enough people read books and too many read and use social media. “Books, to me, were powerful and transformational.”is another of his views in the text.

He puts himself as an equal to some of the greatest literature artists in history before he has even began his work in earnest. He also scoffs at sinners, showing arrogance and that he is more worthy in God’s eyes then them. He also chooses himself to go on this journey, among the entire world population. And in his own

The narrator of the story is the author himself, who “plows and plants” his words to teach his readers the precious lessons he learned from his grandfather. He teaches him that “to survive one has to share”. By sharing the “simple lessons from a simple man” he becomes “a participant [...] not a bystander” like his grandfather and shapes his generation so that it is “fruitful”. He teaches the reader to respect and to share so that their actions become meaningful.