Reading Response FDouglass Alexander David

Douglass say the quote “learning to read has been a curse rather than a blessing” P5. When reading the quote and comparing it to the entirety off the chapter, those words sit heavy with the reader. In the story a slave reading and writing was forbidden, unthinkable even. But over the course off the story he learned to read first and at the end learned how to write, but what came from the ability to read came knowledge, cruel knowledge, of the situation he was in. When Douglass read a Sheridan’s Mighty speeches, He realized what he was to the people that owned him. Douglass then and there understood what slavery and being a slave meant. To be ripped from one home land, dragged on unknow soil, to then be reduced to work for free labor and transition from human bean to property, and a commodity.

“FREEDOM…was ever present to torture me” P5. Douglass mentions this in his story briefly, but its words carry heavy meaning behind them. The word Freedom means to be unchained by what ever it is that oppresses the. Douglass knows the idea off freedom sounds too good to be true, especially during this era off time, if he were to escape he would surly be caught and punished for his betrayal to the family’s house( in his mind ). With this mindset in place he feels as if escape is possible, but at the end off the day would be meaningless over all. To the main charter being a bird stuck in a cage was better then seeing what’s beyond the cold metal bars.

The main charter learns the ability read, and write, which granted him access to a whole new world, but at what cost. Douglass learns he’s a slave on a farm and had no real freedom. The people that are “taking care of him” don’t even see him as a person. His eyes are open to how twisted his life is and its not the same as the other little white boys and girls. The very poor children he called urines were the very one that he tricked into helping him learn to read. He thought he was above them in a senses since he had ample amounts off food while they were starving. The message sunk into his soul when he relived they already had the knowledge to read, they had more opportunities them him. They could do things he can’t. He wasn’t some kid that had a darker skin tone then the others, he wasn’t even looked as a child off God, just another piece off a families property easily replaceable easily disposed off.

Still in my opinion the best quote in the entire story has to be “It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out”P8. When I think about this quote I can visually see my self in a dark pit with the walls moving, millions off faces, laughing at me from all side, there laugher get louder and louder with no way to silences there voices, the entrances at the top getting father and father away, no way to reach it. When re-reading that quote, then comparing it to the rest off the chapter that idea off a pit sucking me down further further into despair with no escapes, was very similar to how the main character Douglass felt when reality smacked him in the face, he came to terms with who he was and were he stood in life. He was a slave with the inability to read or write the langue off these strange people. He was first introduced to literacy, but that was quickly taken away from him, out off belief it was agents what his owners stood for. His interest in reading drove him forward but when he could understand more about his situation he fell into a dark dark place which he felt he could never escape.