Choice: Reading Response Question #1
After losing his mistress as his mentor, Fredrick decides he must look to the younger generations of his captors. At first, reading his newspapers was enough, but after some time he needed to better himself. He wanted more, and so he looked towards the starving children on the street. “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. (Paragraph 4)”. To these children Fredrick would confide in, on learning how to read, and about his views on slavery. In return for nourishing their stomachs, they would nourish Fredrick’s brain.
Realization of the situation Fredrick is in sets in at an early age. “I was now about twelve-years-old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart. (Paragraph 5)”. At the nowhere-near-ripe age of twelve, Douglass starts to pick up on the idea of slavery as a whole, meaning he must now think about being under the heavy shackles for the rest of his life. This quote may not be considered large at all, but the power behind it speaks volumes. This oppression, this overwhelming unfairness, it tells of a harsh future, and an outcome met by many before Douglass. It digs so deep that someone as young as Douglass starts to feel the despair of slavery in his soul.
Good explanation in Part TWO.