Frederick Douglass Learning To Read Summary

Frederick douglass was abandoned by his grandma at the age of 6 at the plantation of his master. At age eight, Douglass was sent to live with Hugh and Sophia Auld , relatives of douglass’ master, in Baltimore to work as their houseboy. Sophia taught Douglass the alphabet until (because of the law against teaching slaves) her husband forbade her to continue. Douglass depended on himself to learn by exchanging food for reading and writing lessons from neighborhood boys. From The Columbian Orator, which he paid for at the age of twelve or thirteen, he was able to understand the power of spoken and written word and it's ability to bring positive change that will remain.

Knowing how powerful reading was, Frederick Douglass decided to take reading into his own hands. He had to acquire new ways to educate himself to read and write. Frederick Douglass immediately realized that all of the white boys on the street knew how to read and write and he soon converted them into his new teachers. He began taking bread from the house and, in trade, received valuable reading lessons from the poor white boy's on the street. Through these lessons, Frederick Douglass could now read. Learning to read gave Frederick Douglass the self confidence he needed to write. He believed that if he could write, he may be able to, one day, write his own pass. Frederick Douglass began learning the letters marked

I, Marina Franco, am a minority. I see the struggles me and my people face despite all of us, all americans, declaring that we have put separation of color behind us. The oppression that we face has just seemed to evolve into something that is socially acceptable and ignorable to the point where it's hard to speak up about it because our voice then gets diminished and erased. A writing piece from the book “Freedom & Responsibility” that I, and a lot of people like me can best relate to, would be “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglas. The authors piece describes his views and thoughts on how he had to work hard in order to teach himself how to read and write on his own after the lady of the household that enslaved him refused to

He was realizing how before he had been taught to read he too blind to the injustice that the slave owners put them under. Hugh Auld teaches Douglass why it is so important that a slave must remain ignorant, because if they didn’t understand the oppression that they were under they would feel no need to rebel against the slave owners. Douglass realizes this and thinks to himself. “Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read … might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read” (20) Because he realizes the importance of education Douglass is set on finishing learning to read and write. Despite the struggles he knows he will have to go through to gain his education because to educate a slave is illegal, he believes that it is through becoming literate that he will be able to escape slavery and become a freeman. Douglass demonstrates the importance of his education through being dedicated to teaching himself how to read and write. He discovers the power of education, through Mr. Auld being so dedicated to prohibiting Douglass to read he is enabled to comprehend the power of education especially in its ability to keep millions of people enslaved.

Reading opened his eyes to his “wretched condition” (2057) and he longed for independence and freedom. He did not desire this for himself alone, but also for his fellow slaves. He “imbue[d] their minds with thoughts of freedom” and sought to “impress them with the gross fraud and inhumanity of slavery” (2077). Douglass took the lead in devising the plans of escape; his skill in reading and writing was instrumental in his plans. While at Master Hugh’s, Douglass acquired the copy-books of his master’s son, Thomas. He taught himself to write and soon “could write a hand very similar to that of Master Thomas” (2059). This ability helped Douglass to formulate the plan of escape from Mr. Hamilton. He wrote several “protections” for himself and the other runaways under the name of Mr. Hamilton’s. Though this escape attempt was unsuccessful, it is a testimony to the Douglass’ genius which would not have existed without his education. His ability to read and write planted the desire for freedom and enabled him to attempt to achieve it.

People often wonder about the struggles of slave life, including the fact that it was extremely difficult to become literate as a slave. Frederick Douglass, who was once a slave who learned to read and write, outlines these obstacles and the effects that they had on him in a chapter titled “Learning to Read and Write” within his autobiography. Said chapter reveals Douglass’s innermost thoughts and attitudes towards many things during his time as a slave, including his mistress, slavery itself, and reading. Douglass displays an appreciative and later aggravated tone towards his mistress, an outraged tone towards slavery, and an enthusiastic tone that later becomes resigned and despairing towards reading, exemplifying that tone can strongly influence the portrayal of a topic.

In the excerpt “Learning to Read and Write”, Frederick Douglass talks about his experiences in slavery living in his masters house and his struggle to learn how to read and write. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. Some of his other writings include “The Heroic Slave”, “My Bondage and My Freedom”, and “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass”. In this excerpt, Frederick Douglass uses an empathic tone, imagery, certain verb choice, contrast, and metaphors to inform African Americans of how important it is to learn to read and write and also to inform a white American audience of the evils of slavery. I find Frederick Douglass to

Frederick Douglass effectively persuades his audience to show the crucial need for learning to read and write and to inform how slavery was a true

Douglass learned his alphabet and some small words from Mrs. Auld. When Hugh Auld realized she was teaching him to read he ordered her to stop saying that it'll make him unfit to be a slave. Douglass learned how to read and write on his own.

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.

In the reading by Frederick Douglass, Learning to Read, he talks about how he learned how to read. He grew up in Maryland and he talks about how his mistress, his slave owners’ wife, taught him the alphabet and how to read. Eventually she stopped, due to him being a slave he wasn’t suppose to know how to read, and Douglass had to continue to learn how to read by himself.

Frederick Douglass was motivated to read so that he can escape to the North knowing how to read and write, and become someone better in life than just a slave. He wants to move away from that ideology or social norm of being looked at and treated as “chattel” (a personal property) and wants to be more of a human being to their eyes. In addition, Frederick Douglass wants to prove society wrong at that time about slaves and education being incompatible and that he has an equal right to education as everyone else. What truly impressed me from this article was when he stated, “Reading was more of a curse than a blessing”. At first, his statement perplexed me because in the beginning he was determined to learn to read and now that he is learning

Frederic Douglass begins his essay, which is excerpted from his autobiography, by telling the reader how he first began to read. His mistress taught him the alphabet before she was set against teaching him to read. He then traded bread to poor children for reading lessons. After learning to read, he started to view it as a curse. He states that reading gave him a view of his condition but not a way out. Later he decides to escape, which gave him hope. He chose to learn to write before escaping to the north.

We all know reading is boring, time consuming, and compulsory. All though, most kids would agree with that statement, some may disagree. Some can say that if one does not read they can lose knowledge and become less smart. If you don't read there can be consequences for stopping. Reading is valuable because it gives readers the power to escape, to maximize their potential, and to strengthen their mind.

Reading information about active reading and having to summarize was new to me. In my English classes reading and having to write was always an issue for me. I found active reading very complicated because I have never used active reading before now with this assignment this will be my first. I have wrote other essays before but not in this way. This was my first experience and I found it not as complicated anymore. Writing in this way I believe helped me to write this short essay and I know, this will help me in the future to come. Also more often I’ll try to use active reading in my everyday life to advance speaking and writing.