Tanner Schumm
Mr. R Lambert
English 122
26 April 2013
Learning To Read And Write
Enslavement is a word that carries many meanings. Man can be enslaved by force, behind prison walls, by chains, or by one’s very own mind. Liberation is yet another word that brings to mind many meanings. Liberating one’s self can be the act of relieving that force, climbing the prison wall, breaking the chain, or freeing your mind from the very oppressions that hold it down. Fredrick Douglass and Malcolm X both shared the unfortunate common bond of oppression and enslavement and both found salvation and liberation through reading. Though the commonality of liberation was shared, the stories by which their journeys were told couldn’t have differed more. Through the essays of “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X and “Learning to Read and Write” by Fredrick Douglass, we see how their rhetorical techniques differ. After observing both essays we will come to understand why it is that due to his strong, convincing tone Malcolm X conveys a better story and catches our attention with his rhetoric better than Douglass. To fully understand how liberation is achieved and how enslavement of the mind can be completely abolished, we must join both Douglass and X in learning how read. Fredrick Douglass was born a slave and was never given the luxury of education until his master instructed his wife to teach Douglass to read. Taking advantage of being in the situation he was placed in, Douglass did whatever he could to further his knowledge of reading on his own. Douglass tells that when he was sent on errands he took his book along as well as bead from his master’s house and used it to barter with little white children in exchange for reading lessons. “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge.” Said Douglass. The tone in which he uses throughout the story is one of optimism and hope, however that same tone sounded of white noise, seeming to just carry on. Unlike Douglass, Malcolm X was born a free man but imprisoned in his twenties. It was at this time when he retaught himself to read and write by his own hand, mind and hard work. Many would see X’s situation (Being imprisoned for years) as a curse and as a bondage by which he would be held down and oppressed with. Malcolm’s opinion however differed from those; he explained his situation as being nothing but a freedom. “Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” A hopeful, mind freeing and optimistic tone was conveyed by X throughout the story, which set a positive mood as a whole for this excerpt. In other instances we can see how Douglass’s tone continues to drag on when he tells of how he learned the alphabet. He tells how he learned what letters meant by observing ship carpenters writing on timber pieces that were intended for parts of the ship. “When a piece of timber was intended for the larboard side, it would be marked thus – “L.” When a piece was for the starboard side, it would be marked thus – “S.” A piece for the larboard side forward would be marked thus – “L. F.” Douglass tells. Although he was learning to recognize letters, and would soon be able to distinguish one from another, the tone in which Douglass shared his story was nothing short of dry, bland, monotone and boring. Rather than pull us in and have us understanding exactly what it was like to be there with him, we are told rather a boring narrative of the way in which he learned. Malcolm learned the alphabet as well, but the way in which he tells of it seems to pull us in and let us know exactly how badly he wanted to taste the fruitfulness of knowledge. Malcolm tells that he spent two days riffling through the dictionary and that he never realized how many words actually existed. Upon this thought he began copying words from a dictionary into a tablet of his own. “I believe it took me a day. Then, aloud, I read back, to myself, everything I’d written on the tablet. Over and over, aloud, to myself, I read my own handwriting.” Said X. He did this until he copied every word in the English dictionary into his own tablet by his own work. Malcolm told, “Between what I wrote in my tablet, and writing letters, during the rest of my time in prison I would guess I wrote a million words.” In just these few small sentences, Malcolm pulls us in and lets us know exactly how hard he worked, how much time it took him and what joy he got from learning. Not to say that Douglass wasn’t intent on gaining the same amount of knowledge, or tried any less than Malcolm did, it is just the simple fact that X uses his strong tone to his advantage. The same situation seems to be presented to both men. Both were held in captivity in one way or the other, and both found a way to break out of oppression through reading. However, in the readings above we see that X used his tone to his advantage in showing us his dedication and his passion to the pages of a book which brought him to success. While Douglass tells of his troubles and how he overcame them with hard work, it seems that he was very mono tone and just talked his way through it. Not to say that he didn’t overcome great obstacles; it is just the fact that his tone was very soft and quant throughout. On the other hand, X pulled you into his story and made you feel as if you were sitting in the prison cell besides him looking up words, copying form the dictionary, or reading alone by the nights light. So while Douglass and X both shared the unfortunate commonality of being enslaved and oppressed, they both found ways to overcome it and to become a stronger and more educated man. Both found liberation and salvation in reading and used it to overcome great obstacles. Though the commonality of liberation was shared, the stories by which their journeys were told used a vastly different word choice, tone and perspective. Douglass spoke in ways that were meaningful and prideful, and made the reader want to become a believer in him. But it seemed that with more practice and vigorous studying X found a way to use rhetoric to convey a stronger tone and persuade his audience with his ethics in order to string together a better written story and a stronger and more convincing tale of how he learned to read and write.

Douglass, Fredrick. "Learing to Read and Write." 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. (2007):129 – 134. Book. 2013
X, Malcolm. "Learing to Read." 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. (2007):1257 - 266. Book. 2013