English Composition II Assignment - Essay Example

2. Adler explains that there are three definitions when it comes to describing a person who owns a book. These persons are described as: The first has all the standard sets and bestsellers -- unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books. ) The second has a great many books, a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many -- every one of them dog eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back.

(This man owns books.) (“Active Reading Assignments” 82) I would like to consider myself an avid reader in this case because I find myself in agreement with Adler regarding his definition of book owners. I would consider my book owning rights to fall under the third type, that of the dog eared and dilapidated book reader because my collection of books stems all the way from my childhood. The books obvioisly changing color within their pages and little “ex libris” notes and the like scribbled around it in my hand writing.

Normally my notes refers to little things that I want to remember from the book I am reading such as words of wisdom and the like. So yes, I would have to agree with Adler in this case. A true book owner is one who can glean knowledge from the pages he reads and then makes an effort to remember this words or pages in one way or another for future reference. 3. It is my belief that the literacy event that Douglass refers to in his essay is that of his mistress opening his mind to the wonders of reading by teaching him the alphabet.

This act of help on the part of his once fair and just mistress allowed him the opportunity to become a literate slave even though she did her best to confine the growth of his mind and his consciousness about the state of his life within a controllable parameter. 4. The revelation that Douglass has within the essay is that his lot in life was something that was not if his own choosing but rather a situation that was thrust upon him because of the way that his people were stolen from Africa and forced into servitude as slaves to the White Man.

It made his hate the White Man for the way they were being treated and made Douglass yearn for a life of freedom and equality with the White Man. His thoughts turned to the abolition of slavery and the what if's in life that he could experience from such a move. 5. Reading Adler's essay helped me better understand that Douglass was not a pretend book owner but rather a true book owner who had “dogged ears and dilapidated pages” within the books (“Active Reading” 83) that he managed to hide away from his masters and read while he was “running errands and having lessons with the White children” (“Active Reading 89).

Douglass took the little opportunities that he had to read and learn as a chance to further his intellect by taking note of certain key words and phrases in the book “The Orator”, the piece of literary work that helped open up his mind to the plight of the people who were then termed as Negro. He took serious consideration of the discussions being presented and used other resource materials in order to find out the meaning of other key words such as “abolition” and he took great pains to understand the meaning