Part 1
After 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?
- He decided to befriend 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, something that was most likely kept a secret from white adults.
Part 2
The passage I will be analyzing comes from the middle to ending section of paragraph 5:
In this small excerpt, Douglass begins to express his regret in learning how to read and write. The first sentence is a callback to his master, who had been adamant in stopping Douglass from learning to read and write. The master did this in fear of the young slave boy 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 plagued with the cruel knowledge of the true nature of slavery and its origins.
His tone is remorseful in a sense, as he regrets his own existence, wishing he were turned into a simple animal to release him from the burden of knowledge. And now he envies his illiterate slave brethren, who are blissfully ignorant to their ancestry. The last ten sentences are basically a cry of desperation to escape his burden, for now he can’t get the idea of freedom out of his mind. It plagues him day and night, the idea repeating in his head like a catchy tune that you’ve memorized by heart. He feels like can’t truly see, hear or even live without the idea of being free.
I myself can’t even begin to imagine how hellish this phase of his life must have been, since like, many of my other non-white classmates, I wasn’t born in such a harsh time. So I can’t begin to truly understand Douglass’ struggle.
Good work!