Education, as we've been taught our whole lives, is a tool we can use to change our lives. It defines who we are, and many times who we'll be. Reading and writing, to be more specific, are one of the most important things we'll learn to do during our school years, but they'll probably never have the significance they had for Douglass.
Douglass extensively talks about how he learned to read and write in his memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American SlaveI, and how this eventually shaped his life. He gives a very interesting approach to the subject as he explains how troubling it was to understand the state in which he was. Douglass says, "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor an detest my enslavers." (pg. 51) He had achieved what he had longed for so long. Able to read a whole new world was in his hands but there is a very strong contradiction between knowledge and slavery. You could say they are almost incompatible a for Douglass, the power to understand the world beyond what his eyes could see or where his captivity could take him lead way to a life change that eventually made him a free man.
"As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing."(pg. 51)
Reading Douglass has enlightened me on the power of ignorance. If I were a slave would I want to understand the meaning behind my captivity? The history laying on my shoulders and the crude realization of my situation? Probably not as it brings forth pain and suffering rather than relief. It's the same idea behind not wanting to go to the doctor at times. I am almost a hypochondriac therefore going to the doctor is one of the most stressful situations I can find myself in. I don't want to know if I 'm terminally ill or if I'll need surgery. I choose ignorance over knowledge in those situations because at times, ignorance is blissful. This brings me to the realization that knowledge is very powerful to, more so than ignorance. Many times you'll choose to ignore it, but if you are able to manage it you'll have control over the ignorant.
Douglass extensively talks about how he learned to read and write in his memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American SlaveI, and how this eventually shaped his life. He gives a very interesting approach to the subject as he explains how troubling it was to understand the state in which he was. Douglass says, "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor an detest my enslavers." (pg. 51) He had achieved what he had longed for so long. Able to read a whole new world was in his hands but there is a very strong contradiction between knowledge and slavery. You could say they are almost incompatible a for Douglass, the power to understand the world beyond what his eyes could see or where his captivity could take him lead way to a life change that eventually made him a free man."As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing."(pg. 51)
Reading Douglass has enlightened me on the power of ignorance. If I were a slave would I want to understand the meaning behind my captivity? The history laying on my shoulders and the crude realization of my situation? Probably not as it brings forth pain and suffering rather than relief. It's the same idea behind not wanting to go to the doctor at times. I am almost a hypochondriac therefore going to the doctor is one of the most stressful situations I can find myself in. I don't want to know if I 'm terminally ill or if I'll need surgery. I choose ignorance over knowledge in those situations because at times, ignorance is blissful. This brings me to the realization that knowledge is very powerful to, more so than ignorance. Many times you'll choose to ignore it, but if you are able to manage it you'll have control over the ignorant.
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