So far I really like this book. I find it to be a lot more entertaining than I expected, considering it’s a narrative which I’m not usually fond of. One thing in particular that I liked was Douglass’ use of vocabulary and his style of writing. He was a slave born into the harsh evils of slavery in the Deep South. It was just about illegal for him to know how to read, likewise for him to be taught to read. The interesting thing is that even though the institution of slavery tried to hinder his potential to become literate, he rose above it and mastered the art of writing at a level significantly above the majority of the country. His unique style of writing can best be described as elegant and graceful. At this time, there were probably not many people who would even begin to fathom what an exquisite writer he would one day become.
From about pages 51-56 Frederick Douglass discusses the various methods he used to learn to read and his motivation. This is one of my favorite sections of the book. He describes the suspicion his mistress felt towards him anytime he was near a piece of writing such as a newspaper, and how determined his mistress was to prevent him from reading. This acted as a huge motivation and only fueled his eagerness to learn. On page 51 he says: “Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell.” I like this quote mainly because it is a subtle, yet satirical reply to what Mr. Auld had warned Mrs. Auld against.
Another thing that I like about Frederick Douglass were his values as a young slave. Of course he valued freedom, what slave wouldn’t? But what I am really getting at is that it doesn’t seem like the same things are important to him as the other slaves. For example, to a slave, the thing they treasure most might be rest at night when the work day is over, or a day where they could work inside, or clothes and food. I don’t mean to say that these things were unimportant to Douglass, but it seems that what he valued most was to discover the world of literacy. As a boy he would give away his bread to poor children in return for spelling lessons. When he was near the docks he would take as much time as he could to look at the various letters used to mark all sorts of wood and cargo shipments. He would even tell kids that he could spell better than them just so they would try to out-spell him. An interesting thing to think about is that these children who he spelled with were white, and if their parents found out about a young slave trying to learn to read then Douglass may have gotten into trouble. It may have been unlikely, but it’s just some food for thought when you consider what he was risking in order to learn the alphabet.
All in all I really like this book. I’m not too familiar with the story of Frederick Douglass and his role as an abolitionist, except for maybe his newspaper “The North Star.” I look forward to finishing this book so that I might be able to get a better insight on slavery and the life of a slave. We all learn in history class that slavery was terrible and that slaves faced horrible conditions, which is true, but we also know that history is a some-what biased recording of events. I just find it relieving in a way to read a full piece of writing regarding slavery from the eyes of someone that dealt with it first hand, freed himself, and ended up being known as one of the most famous abolitionists of all time. So this is my opinion of the book, just a bunch of things that I liked and provoked a little thought in my mind. I hope you can use it in a way to get a better sense of the book.
posted by Josh S.
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I agree with many of the things that you found interesting in the book. i too wonder what would happen to the white children if their parents found out they helped a slave learn to read. Also fascinating as you said was the creative way in which he was able to obtain knowledge. Clearly from a young age even as an oppressed slave child it was apparent that F.D was destined to be a great man and strong person in general. I however disagree with the way you described F.D writing as elegant and graceful. Though he uses much high level vocabulary I'd describe his writing as simple and blunt. I did not find to many elegant metaphors for the cruelties of slavery. For example when a man was whipped he said that the man was whipped raw and blood ran down his back stating exactly what happened. Other writers may have dramatically described the man's screams and pain but not F.D he told it as he saw it.
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