...comparing and contrasting two of the essays that I have read. Malcolm X “Learning to Read , with Frederick Douglass “Learning to Read and Write”. Both Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X set a part an extensive amount of details to describing the process by which they learned to read and write, and, as important, the obstacles that they they confronted. Douglass explains that he had to acquire his reading and writing skills in secretive and, in one of the Important quotes from “Learning to Read and Write” regarding literacy, it said, “he had no regular Teacher” (para .1), and his owner and his mistress consider slavery and education to be incompatible, Douglass equates illiteracy with living in a” mental darkness” (para.1) and, from an early age he devotes Himself to learn first how to read and then how to write by the help of the young white boys. Just as with X, Douglass thrills at the challenges of learning to read and write and, sees this as part of the road to his salvation from “mental darkness” that once enslave him. Similary, X responds responds to his passion to learn to read and write by creating the conditions that made such learning possible despite some challenging circumstances. While in prison, X teaches himself to read by going through dictionary page by page. In order to remember what he has learned, he copied every single page. He explained in one of the important quotes from “Learning to Read”, “I’d never realized so many words...
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...“The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” How does this Sherman Alexie essay compare to the Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X essays we read earlier in the semester? What implications does Alexie invoke with his use of the Superman imagery? In comparing the three essays, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, to “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, one immediately recognizes that all three authors place high importance on the value of reading and writing. When one has the ability to read and write, one has the ability to achieve many goals. One also has the ability to make a difference in the lives of others and society. In “Learning to Read” by Frederick...
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...able to get through this essay. In American society, being able to read and write is superior to any form of communication and is the norm for most. What if I told you about two individuals who were not as fortunate and were incapable of these skills? Who were deemed unworthy and too oppressed to learn to read and write through the normal route? Sherman Alexie and Frederick Douglass were the two people mentioned, they were people who were determined and sought out their own passage in learning these skills. In “Learning to Read and Write’’, Douglass focuses on overcoming the challenges of having to teach himself literacy as an enslaved man, on the other hand, Alexie’s essay, “Superman and Me”, focuses on the obstacles of him...
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...111-0003S 22 June 2013, In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato presents his abstract view of human nature and truth, whereas Douglass presents his personal journal in “Learning to Read and Write.” Compare and contrast Plato and Douglass' essays and ideas. How might Douglass view Plato's allegory based on his experience? The most basic question that we can ask ourselves is: who and what am I? Moreover, the answer to this question about human nature (what a human being is) will greatly affect how we see ourselves. In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, he managed to let us visualize people living in a big cave, where these people were chained by the leg and by the neck and they couldn’t move. They can only see what is in front of them. He explains to us how the “The Allegory of the Cave” is the education of the soul toward enlightenment. According to Plato, the chains that bind the prisoners are the senses and the prisoners symbolize ignorant people, the raised wall symbolizes the limitation of our thinking. The idea of Plato’s essay describes how most people are trapped in their own world, unaware of what is happening around them. According to Plato the “The Allegory of the Cave” is the common man and it represents all people before they are fully educated. The common person sees nothing but the shadows on the wall of the cave. In Plato’s essay, the fire has a significant meaning to the common man; it is the source of light and the only reality he can see as it sheds light...
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...“Once you learn how to read you, you will be forever free”- Frederick Douglass. In narrative titled “Learning to Read and Write” written by Frederick Douglass, he focused more on his personal life and experience. He showed people that although he was a slave and it was illegal for slaves to learn how to read and write he still managed to survive because that’s how important education was to him. “Education is that human process of feeling your body mature, feeding your mind with ideas that it never had before, or information it never had. You simply cannot do that on a computer”- Richard Rodriguez. During Richard’s essay he explains how hard it was for him to learn how to read being that he did not have a lot of support from his family. Both...
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...http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/6/10/11740/9283 http://www.freemaninstitute.com/douglass.htm http://freedownload.is/ppt/frederick-douglass-what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july--2011862.html Frederick Douglass (1818 -1895) was the most prominent African-American leader of the 19th century. A excellent orator, dedicated editor, bestselling author, and presidential advisor, Douglass crusaded for human rights as an abolitionist, a strong advocate for women's suffrage, and a voice for social justice. Douglass was born into slavery as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey to an African slave mother and white father in Tuckahoe, Maryland in the month of February, 1818. He was separated from his mother when he was only a few weeks old and was raised by his Grandparents. When he was six years old, his grandmother took him, without warning, to his master’s plantation to live. At age eight, he was sent to live with his master’s relatives, Hugh and Sophia Auld. Sophia started to teach him to read and write as a child, in which she was violating the state laws towards slavery. It was under the instruction of Mrs. Auld that young Frederick first learned the alphabet and did not last long as Mr. Auld discovered these lessons. Mr. Auld quickly put a stop to the lessons and left a profound impression on young Frederick. To continue learning Frederick was aware that it would bring him unhappiness but also bring him more power over his enslavers. Rather than accepting...
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...them Malcolm x , Sandra Cisneros and Frederick Douglass. They all struggled a lot to pursue their profession .they expressed themselves better after they discovered reading and writing. In their stories they described their conditions when they started reading and writing. This essay discusses how the readings of Frederick Douglass , Malcolm x , and Sandra Cisneros compare and contrast. Even though there is time difference between their lifetime , Malcolm x and Frederick Douglass were African- American and were imprisoned anyway .”you will be free as soon as you are twenty - one, , but I am a slave for life!”pg 115, para 3. On the other hand , Sandra Cisneros was neglected , which is not less than a prison for her . “but somehow I could feel myself being erased” In...
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...Learning to read and write by Frederick Douglass: The purpose of this essay is to explain how Frederick Douglass believed that knowledge was an avenue to freedom. Anyone can have freedom. Frederick needed to gain knowledge to have his freedom. His mistress and master prevented and stopped him from reading and writing. Also, his own mind was preventing him. Finally, he needed the time to learn how to write and read. Fredericks mistress and master both was against him learning to read and write. They both had people watch him to make sure he wasn’t reading. They both agreed that knowledge and freedom wasn’t compatible. When he was caught reading he was punished. This meaning that he didn’t have the freedom to read or write. After a while he...
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...Running Head: Frederick Douglas Independence Day Speech Frederick Douglas Independence Day Speech [Name of the writer] [Name of the institution] Frederick Douglas Independence Day Speech Introduction In the nineteenth century, many communities and cities in America celebrates Independence Day with a solemn reading of the Declaration of Independence, followed by a general direction, either oral or a speech marking the celebration of independence and heritage of the American Revolution founding fathers. On July 5, 1852 "Ladies Society of slavery in Rochester, New York, suggested that Douglas will be the keynote speaker during the celebration of Independence Day. Mr. Douglas denounced the journalists and advocates of the abolition of slavery of African origin as the evil of slavery, which still prevails in South America at the time. He received a sheer support from the Declaration of Independence and established the general principles of American institutions that will work inevitably to depose slavery. Analytical Summary In the darkest moments of World War II, on July 4 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reminded the nation that the democratic freedom which was claimed by the citizens has been established for them. According to him, July 4 is a tonic of hope and inspiration for all the nation. So the people should stand stronga and fight for freedom in this dark hour. People received this message as a breath of security, right to liberty for...
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...In Frederick Douglass’s essay ’’ Learning to Read and Write’’ (1845), he narrates his life as a slave by denouncing the hard circumstances of his learning while being enslaved in Master Hugh’s family. Douglass elucidates by his exalted and enthusiastic diction the decisive moments of his hardship as an African American slave who devotes his life to emancipate himself from the atrocity and the cruelty of the entire slavery system that requires him to be in a constant fight in furtherance of illiteracy. Douglass recounts the miserable conditions of his youth as an illiterate slave who overcomes his weaknesses and the monstrosity of his holder to define his personality and become the man who deserves freedom and education. By his condemning and...
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...how to read and write. Sometimes, they was punishment by their masters that they did not know reasons; therefore, they wanted to escape from their masters. But in the essay “Learning to Read and Write” wrote by Frederick Douglass, he was a different person than other people because he found the ways to try learning how to read and write during slavery, and resolved to run away in the world that the slaves had no rights and justice to live. In addition, it gives the readers better ideas of his struggle by recounting his life and the sense of reliving his life such as innocence when his mistress expressed more violent to him, freedom from slavery, and finally determination. Douglass felt innocence when his mistress listened to her husband to stop teaching Douglass, and she became coldly. He said, “Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.” He described how his mistress expressed the characteristic and acted more violence towards slavery, but before she was a kind, soft-hearted, and enthusiastic teaching Douglass the alphabet. This quote...
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... Lessons Learned from Literacy One is capable to learn a world of information and concepts. Fredrick Douglass was an African American who “was born a slave in 1918 in Maryland” (Douglass100). He was a leader in the abolitionist movement and had a knack for wanting to learn. He never lost sight of what he wanted in his life no matter what he went through. He never stopped his aspiration to read and write, even though it was illegal for slaves to have an education. He learned a lot of lessons from literacy; there is never a lack of things to be grateful for, knowledge is freedom, and the opportunity to become a leader. Douglass grew up with nothing that we have, which is stuff we take for granted today. Douglass never gave up and never had a lack of things to be grateful for. He couldn’t have freedom of speech, knowing when he’s going to eat, knowing what he is going to sleep on, having clothes, and an education. These are basic needs that every person, even children have today. Especially teenagers and children, some don’t even care about their education, but that’s what Douglass lived for, even though he’s been through hell and beyond what any of us today experience. Children are so ungrateful nowadays they don’t take advantage of the free schooling they get, they’d rather skip class, and they haven’t even been through half of what Douglass went through. Douglass fought, and even though he didn’t have much to be grateful for he fought for his education, he fought for...
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...Frederick Douglass was born to a slave mother in Maryland and to a white father. After he escaped slavery he worked to free other slaves and fought for the civil rights of recently freed slaves. He was a newspaper editor, lecturer, and author of several books. This essay is a summary and analysis for one of his books that he wrote titled The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave (1841). Frederick Douglass was born in slavery his mother was a slave and his father was a white man. His mistress would often teach him how to read from a newspaper. Douglass liked his mistress because she didn’t treat him as a slave she treats him like a human being and took care of his basic needs. His master didn’t like how the mistress was treating Douglass so he forbids her to ever teach him how to read and to stop treating him with respect. Per her husband’s request the mistress made sure he never saw a newspaper again and he was also being watched carefully compared to the other slaves. After he was forbidden to ever be taught again Douglass’ passion for reading and writing grew stronger....
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...Although Frederick Douglass wrote several autobiographies during his lifetime, none continues to have the lasting literary impact of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. From its publication in 1845 to its present status in the American literary canon, the Narrative has become one of the most highly acclaimed American autobiographies ever written. Published seven years after Douglass' escape from his life as a slave in Maryland, the Narrative put into print circulation a critique of slavery that Douglass had been lecturing on around the country for many years. Yet while the Narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of being a slave, it also reveals his psychological insights into the slave/master relationship. What Douglass realizes that day is that literacy is equated with not only individual consciousness but also freedom. From that day, Douglass makes it his goal to learn as much as he can, eventually learning how to write, a skill that would provide him with his passport to freedom. What gives the book its complexity is Douglass' ability to incorporate a number of sophisticated literary devices...
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...Frederick Douglass, a slave whom evolved to editor, public speaker and a leader in the abolitionist movement, expresses his own struggles of learning as a slave in the early 1800s in his piece “Learning to Read and Write”. As a slave, Douglass studies how to read and write with the help of those around him. He eventually succeeds in achieving his ambitions, yet, remains with the desire to become a free man. As he gains more knowledge, Douglass has to change the methods he acquires his education to elude the punishment from the slave owners; he resorts to enticing children to assist him in learning during his free time. Douglass uses complex vocabulary, strong diction and unique metaphors to provide his audience with a clear and undisputed perspective of his opinion on slavery. His determination, through his writing, encourages the audience to support the abolitionist movement to cease the horrid practice of slavery. Uniquely, Douglass uses metaphors to help convey a heightened sense of emotion and imagery to his piece. He has effectively expressed his inspiring devotion to acquire knowledge, and his undying determination to become a free man; however, his achievements became a dark pit of despair upon his realization of his grim reality....
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