Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Reading, writing, and reasoning are what separate human beings from the beasts of the earth. In learning to do these things, a slave also learns to be a human after a life of being a beast of burden. Frederick Douglass, after about twelve years of life, learned to read and write and I believe this was the key to his discontentment and his eventual freedom. …showed first 75 words of 429 total…

…showed last 75 words of 429 total…he would have remained in his ignorant bliss and never learned to do these things (such as write a book). The moment that he heard his master Mr. Auld say, ”if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave,” Frederick knew that the pathway from salvery to freedom was knowledge. Being able to read gave him that knowledge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** none