Learning to Read and Write by Douglass - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Essay Example

“Learning to Read and Write” “Learning to Read and Write by Douglass serves as a very informative piece of work where the author takes the audience through the stages and challenges he faced in the process of learning the two essential concepts. From the onset, the story seems interesting considering that the narrator comes from the black community and developed an interest in reading and writing in an era where only the white community had the privilege to access the services of reading and writing. The reader discovers that the narrator remained under the Hugh family for a period of seven years a period that he used to develop the need and eventually achieving his goals of learning to read and write. At the initial stages, Mrs. Hugh taught Douglass how to read but she stopped once she took the same perception like her husband towards slavery. Despite at the initial stages encouraging Douglass to learn, she became one of the chief opposer of the idea and worked towards halting the process through any available means. Douglass would carry a book along with him and request the white children to help him read the book once he met them on the way as he run his daily errands. “The Columbian Orator,” a book Douglass acquired during the age of twelve years proved to be of great interest to him as he learnt a dialogue between a slave and his ,master where the slave managed to negotiate the terms of his working conditions having tried to escape for three times. The book equally helps Douglass to learn about the travesty of slavery as well as loathing the master holds towards his slaves (Douglass, 55). Douglass is worried upon realizing the burden he carries after knowing how to read where while thinking about death as well as an abolitionist movement, he makes a decision to escape from the life of slavery but again believes he is too young for such. Consequently, Douglass figures another obstacle to his escape as he realizes that he had no writing skills that he feels he needs to learn in order to run away once he possesses the two concepts. Douglass takes some more years at his master’s place and continues with his goal towards learning how to write. After a number of years with the help of the white children, “finally succeeds in learning and writing.” (Douglass, 194) The journey towards Douglass achievement of learning and writing is therefore challenging and full of obstacles but he eventually achieves his goals despite taking a number of years where his eyes opens a lot. The road to learn how to read and write proves not a simple one as explained in Douglass case. Unlike Douglass, my road towards achieving these two traits was somehow easier, although I experienced a variety of obstacles and challenges towards achieving that goal. The challenges I faced started right before I joined school on the first day where upon announcement of the my first day of joining school from my mother, I took it as a normal thing only to realize the commitment required once I was forced to wake up early on the first day I was joining school. I never thought of the process deeply before and I realized going to school early was a routine that I had to adhere on a daily basis except on weekends. More a time I would complain to my mother that I was very tired and the response she gave me was never encouraging. At one Monday morning after going to school for the first we that was basically an orientation period, I told my mother, “I feel like resting today since going to school is tiring.” My mother on the other hand responded that, “If you ever thought going to school and learning was easy, you were wrong. It is a challenging task and you have no option than to comply.” That statement served as a warning that going to school and learning to read and write was beyond my choice but a commitment that I had to ensure that I adhered without failure. The situation was not different at the school with the requirements equally the same where punishments would result I failure resulted. Since I attended a public multicultural school, the teachers tried to maintain a balance between every pupil with little time provided for slow learners as the class population would overwhelm the teachers. Most of the time I was obligated to visit my neighbor premises in the evening hours for him to teach me few things in relation to reading and writing. Although the arrangement was made between my neighbors’ parent and my mother, my neighbor who was already in the upper classes was opposed to the idea but rather than deny to facilitate for the services, he would pretend that he is teaching me and the time allocated would come to an end while we have done nothing. That served as a means of demoralizing my thought towards education as he would always tell me how difficult it was to fully understand the concept of learning and writing. Back at school, the other pupils would make me feel as a loser as they would constantly brag how they had private tutors at home who helped them to understand everything that the teachers in the school provided. I used to reflect back home and consider my mother a failure as she lacked the necessary resources to provide me with a private tutor like the majority of students and always considered myself a failure. The school environment was equally unjust as bullying was the order of the day with the bigger kids bullying me during break time. Fear to report the kids to the authorities added to my worries and would constantly consider running away from home to avoid going to school. However, after a period of three months that I considered as a period of misery, we were subjected to a test to gauge our level of understanding the much we had gained in respect to reading and writing. I was surprised upon the release of the exam results to realize that I was the best in overall classes. The achievement brought a new perspective and approach towards learning and writing. The results served as a boost to my confidence and I would constantly receive encouragement both at school and home to keep on the spirit. The first achievement served as the basic platform towards achieving the goals of learning and writing and the consistency was evidenced through the tests that in engaged in at school even in the upper levels. Work Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Newport Beach: Books on Tape, 1995. Print. Read More