Federick Douglass Case

A famous American abolitionist named Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 in Maryland. He was born as a slave and has a slave mother. Upon his escape from slavery at the age of 20 and went on to become a world-know anti-slavery activist, this book (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave) marked his remarkable life as a slave. In this paper, I am going to talk about Why and How reading play a role in Frederick Douglass life as a slave and how the importance of reading shape his narrative.

First of all, I am going to talk about why reading was so important to Frederick Douglass. We need to know some background of the Americans. One factor that could support this statement is that America has advanced a lot since the last century. Another activity that occupies a lot of young American's time is sports, people under the age of thirty only read and learn if they needed to get an education for higher pay. In conclusion, reading is a very important aspect to Frederick Douglass because if he didn't learn how to read and write, then we probably wouldn't even know who he is today. That small inch of knowledge was all he needed to acquire a success to freedom. Here is one of his quotes from the book, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell". He took that bit of wisdom from both of his mistresses and ran with it as a runner would run with a patron in a four hundred meter relay. When Auld introduced reading to Douglass, determination being one of Douglass's strongest qualities, he used his abilities to read and write becoming one of the greatest African Americans in his century. From the people that I have asked, some responses are because there are so many leisure activities available to them now unlike in Douglass's time.

Secondly, I am going to talk about how reading played a role in his life as a slave. Douglass was deeply depressed about the hopelessness of his situation that he was not able to turn his knowledge into power and escape from his slavery. Ultimately, literacy did help Douglass. Mrs. Auld teaches Frederick some letters and small words. This is an example of how literacy can show a person someone else's ideas. He begins to realize what Auld had been saying about how an education ruins slaves. He explains later to her that education ruins slaves. Frederick Douglass knew that he had to achieve literacy by any means possible, and he was willing to risk a lot in order to do this. When Mrs. Auld's husband knows about this, he immediately orders her to stop teaching Frederick. He knows that education does not directly bring a person freedom, but it provides that person with the knowledge, resources and determination to fight for his freedom. He was able to see the oppression of his people from other people's eyes, and this sent him into a deep depression. Willing to sacrifice whatever he can to achieve this, Douglass offers bread to poor