Part 1– (After the young Douglass loses his mistress as his teacher, what strategies does he practice to continue learning to read? Who does he turn to for help? How does he persuade them to help him?)
After Douglass unfortunately loses the educational aid from his mistress he continues to read his books and talk with the people of the neighborhood during errands. He specifically talked to the poor white children in order to learn from them. In exchange for their services, he would bring them bread from his home. This continues to help in his learning to read and write.
Part 2-(“The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery.”) Paragraph 7
What is significant about this quote is the choice of words used to describe his feeling towards the enlightenment gained from reading the book. His displeasure is gradually expressed through his use of imagery. He calls his enslavers robbers and refers to being stolen. It shows how we were essentially misplaced and his anger towards this. We’re seeing his anger develop in two sentences.
Douglass’s use of words in this part also caught my attention. I felt more connected to his writing through his use of imagery when he referred to the slave owners as robbers and said that they were being stolen. I also think this is one part of the text where he begins to really think about slavery and his hate for slave owners grows deeper.
Nice reply-comment, Maryfer!
BOth of you Haileson and Maryfer — good observation of Douglass’s descriptive language — robbing stealing. He uses the vocabulary of theft. We think about ALL THAT was stolen from the enslaved African people — family, children, name, culture, humanity, dignity, education, life itself.
YOu write: the choice of words used to describe his feeling towards the enlightenment gained from reading the book.
What words? Abhor and destest: You need to use these words in your answer.
You write: We’re seeing his anger develop in two sentences.
Very good observation.
Overall, Very Good!