Literacy In Frederick Douglass

Words: 275
Pages: 2

Literacy is a double edged sword, especially to a slave like Frederick Douglass. When you are ignorant, you are able to life in blissful naivety about the realities beyond your direct perceptions. Literacy shattered this illusion for Douglass as he became educated. He couldn't hid from the truths that were revealed, ultimately altering his perception of the world and his place in it. When his fellow slaves were able to content themselves with their narrow view of the world, Douglass' new independent mind forces him to reject this contentment. He knew truths that he felt were his responsibility to change, because of his new knowledge, "I know understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty- to wit, the white man's power to enslave