Reading Response FDouglass–Sajid Hossain

Part one: Question 1

He decided to be friends with the white boys in his neighborhood, those who were raised to know how to read. Whenever he ventured out of his house for errands, he would make sure to bring a book and some bread. He would rush to finish his errands and then make his way towards the white boys, offering them pieces of bread in exchange for knowledge on how to read properly. He would feed them and they would be his teachers.

Part two:

“As I
 read
 and
 contemplated
 the
 subject,
 behold
 that
 very
discontentment
which
Master
Hugh
had
predicted
would
follow
my
learning
to
read
had
.
3already
come,
to
torment
and
sting
my
soul
to
unutterable
anguish.
As
I
writhed
under
it,
I
would
at
times
feel
that
learning
to
read
had
been
a
curse
rather
than
a
blessing.
It
had
given
me
a
view
of
my
wretched
condition,
without
the
remedy.
It
opened
my
eyes
to
the
horrible
pit,
but
to
no
ladder
upon
which
to
get
out.
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.
Anything,
no
matter
what,
to
get
rid
of
thinking!
It
was
this
everlasting
thinking
of
my
condition
that
tormented
me.
” page 3 first paragraph.

Douglass begins to tell his regret in learning how to read and write. The first sentence is a callback to his master, who had been refusing in stopping Douglass from learning to read and write. The master did this in fear of the Douglass developing discontent and a rebellious attitude towards his enslavement, something that was revealed to be true in the second half of this sentence. In the next six sentences, Douglass then goes on to say how he considers his ability to read a curse now due to being distress with the cruel knowledge of the true nature of slavery and its origins. His tone is remorseful in a sense that he regrets his own existence. He wishes he were turned into a animal to release him from this knowledge. Also further in the paragraph he explains how for now he can’t get the idea of freedom out of his mind, it troubles him day and night. He now feels he can’t hear or even live without the idea of being free.