Frederick Douglass and his Literacy Journey

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave. Literature at SunSITE. 14 May 1997. Berkeley Digital Library. 21 Jan. 2009 http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/07.html

In Chapter seven of his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Douglass reveals the details of how he learned to read and write. The majority of the chapter explains how he achieved such a feat when it was nearly illegal to educate a slave. He first writes about how his mistress first began the task, then ceased when she was condemned by her husband for her actions. Frederick’s simple learning of the alphabet was enough to create an unquenchable thirst for knowledge within him. He proceeded to devise several methods in which he could learn how to read and write.

The chapter goes on to reveal the tactics that Douglass concocted in order to feed his hunger for learning. He became friends with the neighborhood’s poor white children by giving them some much coveted bread. His newly acquired friends would then show their gratitude by teaching him how to read. Douglass carries on in the chapter by noting that his newly literate self was now most painfully aware of his grim situation. His venture to learn how to write was different from how he learned how to read. He had no real teacher but himself. Fredrick’s first acquisition of letters is achieved at the town’s shipyard. After learning only four there, he trick any young boy whom he knew could write into teaching him more letters. He then finally achieved his goal by sneaking into his master’s copybooks when he was home alone and copying all the work that his master had learned at school.

This chapter from Fredrick Douglass’s autobiography is quite profound. What was most intriguing is that the simple learning of the alphabet was enough to ignite a fire in him that was to only be put out by the acquisition of knowledge. It was interesting that the only bitterness throughout the chapter is only towards his condition. He was extremely fortunate to have the company that he did. His mistress had a good enough heart to begin teaching the young slave. Douglass managed to find young white boys in his neighborhood willing to help a slave boy learn how to read. He had resources around him and the inherent intelligence to find clever ways to gain access to the inaccessible.

The chapter is also filled with a sort of anguish. He points out the irony in the prohibition of his being educated: “I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids;--not that it would injure me, but it might embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offense to teach slaves to read in this Christian country.” Douglass also has a conscious grasp on how bittersweet his achievement was. After becoming literate, Douglass talks about how his existence became gloomier. As the Romantics would say, he came into experience and finally learned every dark truth about his circumstances. Douglass’s experiences with literacy show how important literacy is to self-awareness and awareness of the world.