There is an old Korean maxim that reads, “Give the disease and offer the remedy”, when directly translated to English. This axiom is used in instances when someone or something seems to be duplicitous as it seems to beneficial on the surface level, but it actually is not. This idiom matches Douglass’s education because education is generally considered to be a means of personal development, but as Douglass learned to read, he became increasingly aware of his state and the presence of abolitionists and anti-slavery movements. Douglass mentions, “I was broken in body, soul, and spirit” in reaction to slavery (126). This quote explicitly shows how the horrid reality that was unveiled for Douglass through education mentally and emotionally affected him as he experienced the dichotomy of motivation for freedom and the dread of slavery. When Douglass is handed over to Covey, freedom seem to play against him as the work and violence he experienced under the new master exhausted him to an extent where he spent his leisure time solely for resting. Remarkably though, Douglass manages to confront Covey with a fight that lasts for nearly two hours, which ultimately resulted in Covey no longer touching Douglass. His valiant fight against Covey shows Douglass’s drive to be liberated from bondage, which most likely sprung from his education. This is where the irony of the proverb arises; education, until this point, left Douglass wretched and downhearted, but now it is the primary factor behind his will to fight for his freedom. …show more content…
At a first glance, the saying seems to perfectly suit the situation of Douglass; however, as Douglass begins to “accept” slavery and find ways to free himself from such inhumane entrapment, education only acts as a “remedy” for
Douglass.
The significant of education in “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” is the most important theme in the entire passage. Frederick Douglass understands that the only way to freedom, for him and also other slaves, is through learning to read, write, and also have an education. Education helps Frederick to understand things that slowly will destroy his mind, and heart at the same time. Understanding the full extent of the horrors of slavery can be devastating to a person who has just set mind on morals, and values. In the passage Frederick says, “It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but offered no ladder upon which to get out” (Douglass 61). Using this quote as your guide, the reader can examine the meaning and importance of education with slavery time, and modern day.
Let us begin with what is, perhaps, the most famous Douglass quotation: "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man" (64). This sentence serves as the turning point, the climax, of both Douglass' narrative and his life. Up until that point, throughout his entire life, the world had been busy making him a slave. From the moment he was born to a slave mother (even though his father was white), the forces of slavery had been suffocating his humanity. When he was forcibly separated from his mother, he lost the human closeness of family. When he helplessly witnessed his aunt being brutally beaten and was subjected to repeated beatings himself, he lost the human sense of pride. And, when he was denied education and literacy, he lost the human ability to obtain knowledge. In all of these ways, society turned Frederick Douglass, a man, int...
In Fredrick Douglass’ narrative of his own life he makes known his difficulty in receiving an education, something we take for granted today. He goes on to restate a conversation between his master and mistress: “Learning would spoil the best negro in the world. Now, if you teach that negro…how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm.” (Douglass 41) One educated slave poses an immense threat upon the act of enslavement and those who enslave. Knowledge is dangerous in any form; it was feared to cause a slave to question authority and the entire slave institution. Intelligence enlightens slaves of the evils of slavery and that has a spiraling effect as such information would not be kept to one's self. Knowledge edifies enslaved men and women of their quality of life and to distinguish themselves as human beings rather than property. Slave owners would deprive their slaves of basic education in hopes of a decreased chance of rebellion and in contrast, a slave would need education to be liberated. Acquiring knowledge was far more powerful than any weapon. We see this idea throughout Douglass' narrative as Douglass was able to liberate himself through education.
In order for Douglass to reach his goal of becoming a free man he thought the only way out was education. He needed to learn how to read, write, and think for himself about what slavery was. Since literacy and education were so powerful to Frederick he persevered to get himself the education he wanted. …. Douglass knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t stop him. Douglass realized the “ conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with a high hope, and
He had long fought to learn to read and was so excited and eager to do so, he never expected the circumstances of this to be as dehumanizing as they were. He regretted learning to read because it brought him nothing but desperation, he learned his awful truth and that of his fellow slaves. "It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy." (Douglass, 24) The truth was that the more he learned the more he became aggravated, he knew there was not much he could do. It brought his moral down along with many other feelings, even a slave like Frederick had learned the awful feeling of
Their education had given them a new perspective of everything around them—a glimpse to a whole new world. Upon learning to read, Douglass began to realize how an education could ruin slaves. With education, comes enlightenment, and for him his enlightenment was the realization to the injustices going on around him. With him finally being able to read, he understood more fully the implications of slavery sometimes served to make him more miserable as he came to comprehend the hopelessness of the situation for himself and the other slaves. He states in his narrative, “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me” (268) because he realized that his knowledge came at a cost—he knew that there was nothing normal and right about slavery, yet he had to live as one—whatever knowledge he had attained, festered in his mind and made him even unhappier with the conditions and treatment than
He believed that the ability to read makes a slave “unmanageable” and “discontented” (2054). Douglass discovered that the “white man’s power to enslave the black man” (2054) was in his literacy and education. As long as the slaves are ignorant, they will be resigned to their fate. However, if the slaves are educated, they would understand that they are as fully human as the white men and realize the unfairness of their treatment. Education is like a forbidden fruit to the slave; therefore, the slave owners guard against this knowledge of good and evil.
In this narrative, Douglass, after very many obstacles are conquered, eventually overcomes the ultimate hardship of all time; slavery. At the time this narrative was written (1845), slavery was a common practice in the south, and it was nearly unheard of to escape its grueling jaws. One of Douglass’s first memories was seeing his aunt being tied up and beaten until the warmth of her own blood dripping down her back became pools of dried up blood at her feet. The screams he heard that day were unforgettable, and forever branded in his ears. This eventually led to his own beatings, in the same manner. At an early age, Douglass realized that he could no longer live this way, and decided to do something about it. His perseverance came in baby steps: first learning to read, next to acquire allies, and finally to make his move and never look back. If Douglass were to forget his end goal in any of this chaos, it is likely that he would have became swallowed up in adversity and let it consume him until he had completely lost his will to escape, or even live. However, keeping his end goal in mind, he was brilliant with his delicate moves to escape the sink hole that is
The title of the book for my report is Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, by himself. Its genre is autobiography, and it was first published in 1881 and later revised in 1893. The tone of the novel is contemplative and reflective. He talks about his thoughts on his circumstances and the actions of others constantly and often explains why things were as they were, such as the white children he was friends with as a child not agreeing with slavery. The book tells about his life, including his first realizations of slavery, his experiences and hardships growing up as a slave, his religious enlightenment, his escape from slavery, and his rise to the top as an influential voice for blacks in America. His style includes formal language and going into detail on his reflections.
In the passage of the Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, the author masterfully conveys two complimentary tones of liberation and fear. The tones transition by the use of diction and detail. The passage is written entirely in first person, since we are witnessing the struggles of Fredrick Douglass through his eyes. Through his diction, we are able to feel the triumph that comes with freedom along with the hardships. Similarly, detail brings a picturesque view of his adversities. Since the point of view is first person, the reader is able to be a part of the Douglass’ struggles with his new freedom. With diction, detail, and point of view, the reader is able to get a rare glimpse into the past of Fredrick Douglass.Fredrick Douglass’ diction is powerful as he describes his life as a slave and with his new freedom. Fredrick Douglass calls being enslaved an act of “wretchedness,” yet he was able to remain “firm” and eventually left the “chains” of slavery. Fredrick Douglass expresses that being enslaved is a wretched act and that no man should ever deserve such treatment. Despite being a slave, he kept strong and eventually broke the chain of society. However, Fredrick Douglass experienced great “insecurity” and “loneliness” with his new freedom, and was upon a new “hunting-ground.” His new freedom brought other devastating factors, being a new state without any friends, which caused his loneliness. In this new state, he grew insecure for he was in a new danger zone where at any time his freedom could be rejected. With new freedom come new obstacles, which are described in the diction of Fredrick Douglass.
In life there will always be someone who says it cannot be done, but that does not always stop an individual from achieving his or her goals in life. Frederick Douglass wrote the article of his life experience, “Learning to Read and Write.” Douglass explains the struggles he went through as a slave just to learn to read and write. During this time period slaves were not taught how to read and write; therefore, he had to do this on his own. Douglass fought a battle of breaking through the ideas that a slave should not and could not be educated. Today many people fight a similar battle to achieve their goals. Many just give in to society as many slaves did in the past. In life people are not always given the opportunities that allow them to advance
Douglass's narrative is, on one surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders' disrespect for a slave’s family and for their education, as well as by the slaves' acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.
Metal clanks against metal as the chains rub on old scars issuing in another day of toil in the heat with head-down and blood streaming as each new lash is inflicted. This is usually the picture envisioned when one thinks of slavery. While often this is an accurate depiction, there are also many other forms of slavery. The Webster’s Dictionary describes slavery as, “submission to a dominating influence.” Everyone has influences that shape who they are and what they do, but a problem arises when a person’s entire life is spent abiding under a certain, destructive influence. Often this is done willingly and a sort of addiction occurs in maintaining the hold the authority has in one’s life. It gives the person identity; all they need to do is live under the power they have created for themselves and make up the rules as they go along. Yet in doing this, they rob themselves of true freedom in knowing right from wrong and choosing the right. In fact, in this regard Fredrick Douglass is one of the freest men in his narrative. In the life story of Fredrick Douglass we not only see an African American man struggling against the oppression of slavery, but also many white masters struggling against their enslavement to reputation, power and religion.
Douglass was not aware of what slaves were and why they were treated in a bad condition before he learns how to read. He was deeply saddened upon discovering the fact that slaves were not given the rights every human being should have. In an effort to clarify Douglass’s feelings of anguish, he states: “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 146). The fact that other slaves are content with their lives is what brings awareness to him because he knows that he is stripped of basic human rights. He envies his fellow slaves due to the reason that they are pleased with the life he cannot live to like anymore. Also, he is often wishing he never learned how to read because he doesn’t want to burden about his life. Douglass knows more about the disturbing conditions than most of the slaves around him, but he greatly regrets it. Before he started reading, he lived very much in contentment and now he cannot stand the fact of being
Later on, Douglass noticed that Auld had revealed the strategy where “whites” manage to keep “blacks” as slaves, and soon the “blacks” might free themselves from the “whites”. Douglass self-educated himself to have enough knowledge to finally free himself. He was greatly determined to end slavery and gave a great amount of time, immense talent, and energy to make it