Frederick Douglass Learning to read and write Analysis

Fredrick’s article is persuasive that the illiterate suffer both individually and in the society. All his experiences relate to the disadvantages illiterate people experience. His master treated him badly and was not pleased that he was learning how to read. The current society treats illiterates the same. They are isolated from literates at work and in their residential homes. Being illiterate made him a slave since he could not read or write. As the world, evolved, uneducated people stopped being offered jobs. For instance, most slaves used to work in big farms and manufacturing industries. Farm and industrial mechanization looked cheaper and easy to manage. Most enslavers replaced their slaves with the machines. The ill treatment he received from his master made him feel like an outcast in the American society.

Discovering that he could not escape slavery made him feel very stupid. He felt that learning to read was like a curse since he had no remedy for his and other slave’s condition. In most third world countries, illiterate people speak only their native language (Victor n. p). Fredrick was taken as a slave since he was uneducated. He could not resist it since it was his only means of survival. As mentioned in the article, Fredrick felt bad after discovering that slavery was a violation of human rights. However, he had to put up with his masters ruthlessness since he could not escape working as a slave. He also encountered a situation where he was asked if he was a slave for life.