Rhetorical Reading Response: "Learning to Read and Write" Frederick Douglass

Richard Perez, Comfort Oyeyemi, Kadayjah Tanksley, and Tatiana Foster

January 25, 2018

English 1102

Dr. Greene

Rhetorical Reading Response: “Learning to Read and Write”

In Frederick Douglass’ excerpt “Learning to Read and Write” (1845), he explains that to learn to read and write that he had to persevere through all adversities faced. Douglass develops the idea by including experiences that hindered his learning, while also including experiences that helped his learning process. Douglass wrote this work in order to show that with determination and dedication, what is thought to be impossible can be achieved. The intended audience is the other slaves and people of color that needed inspiration.

I feel like Douglass depicts his life as a young slave trying to learn to read and write without a proper teacher. He not only speaks of his unconventional ways of learning but also what he learned about the world he was living in and the difference between the feelings and thoughts of literate slaves and illiterate slaves. He speaks of the pros and cons of having the power of knowledge and how it forever changed the man he became. I also feel that Douglas had a relationship with the audience that I would describe as an "I was in your position and it gets better", showing the audience the "before" and “after” Douglass.

Douglass uses his expertise in writing to vividly describe how important knowledge is to him. “Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglass). This quote suggests that Douglass wants to learn more about the English language and that he has the determination to learn more than he already knows. The mistress only taught him the alphabet. Learning the principles of the English language made Douglass power hungry into learning more. “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge” (Douglass). Here, we see the lengths that Douglass would take just to learn some English from the little white boys. Douglass took advantage of the poor boys around his neighborhood by offering them bread in exchange for an English lesson. Douglass would rush his errand just to get a lesson from one of the white boys. “I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed” (Douglass). This quote shows us that Douglass is at his lowest point because of the thirst he had for learning. Unable to continue learning, he begins to realize the limitations the world has set on him for being a slave. Overall, it shows how deeply Douglass cared about learning and why it hurt him so much when he could no longer continue learning.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. “Learning to Read and Write.” Launchpad, 1845. http://www.macmillanhighered.com/launchpadsolo/readwrite/7385790/Home#/launchpad/item/MODULE_bsi__2B8776E4__C845__493C__8BFF__4BCA15B8E06E/bsi__8FB79332__EC44__468A__9037__A5A9585409EA?mode=Preview&getChildrenGrades=True&includeDiscussion=False&readOnly=False&toc=syllabusfilter&renderIn=fne