Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Learning to Read & Write - Frederick Douglass
In REPLY to this post, write 4 insights on "Learning to Read & Write" that can spark a discussion in class. These "insights" should be sentences of analysis in which you discuss some motif, theme, connection between other texts we've read, etc. These should be either claims or analysis sentences, and you should be able to direct us to parts of the text or other texts that demonstrate your insight.
You have all come so far in your analysis and critical thinking skills, and YOU have learned to be astute readers and writers (See what I did there? 😉 ). Thus, we will use this exercise next class as a way to have a discussion on the texts, but a discussion that YOU ALL LEAD, instead of me. Use these sentences as ways to TEACH me and your fellow classmates critical ways of reading and thinking about the text.
Be ready to discuss your posts.
Write each "insight" as a separate, bulleted sentence.
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1. When Douglass learned to read and write, freedom became a prominent idea that he thought about often because it was something all around him that he realized he could never have.
ReplyDelete2. Being able to read led Douglass to realize how unfair his situation was and how cruel his enslavers were.
3. The text relates to The Book Thief because the white children grew up learning to hate the slaves, just as German children grew up learning to hate Jews.
4. In the text, light represents knowledge, but after Douglas learns to read, he wishes he could still be in the dark like the other slaves.
1. The reason why white men did not want to educate the slaves, is because they were fearful it would lead the slaves to question the white male authority,
ReplyDelete2. In both pieces of text, children are seen as innocent, not knowing the difference between skin colors, or religion, however as they grow older they are taught that one is superior over the other.
3. Both Leisel and Douglas have the desire to read because both see being educated as poccessing equality.
4. Douglas examplifies how the culture he is given by his masters, is different from the culture he wishes to maintain, until later in his life, when he can fully manitain his academic culture.
- Expectations to satisfy the roles of social hierarchy encourages people to treat others ''accordingly."
ReplyDelete- With knowledge comes awareness; some may value ignorance more.
-LeiseI and Douglas became interested in reading in order to gain power through language.
-LeiseI and Douglas used language and reading as a way to escape their realities, whether it was escaping mentally or escaping physically.
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ReplyDelete-Reading helps Douglass understand the cruelty of slavery, as it takes away his rights and freedom, which makes him less willing to surrender to his masters' authority.
ReplyDelete-Both Liesel and Douglass recognize the power of words, particularly the persuasive effect it can have on people.
-At times, Douglass wishes that he could be like his "fellow-slaves" and live in ignorance of the political injustice of slavery, as his knowledge of the possibility of freedom from oppression invades his thoughts.
-Slavery takes away Douglass's freedom, agency, and power, but his persistence to learn how to read and write gives him the opportunity to gain back some freedom and power.
• Both Markus Zusak's _The Book Thief_ and Frederick Douglass's "Learning to Read and Write" portray that the mastery of language empowers people and helps to develop personal agency.
ReplyDelete• _The Book Thief_ and "Learning to Read and Write" both introduce the paradox that the gaining of new knowledge leads to freedom, and yet develops a hunger for more knowledge.
• Frederick Douglass's "Learning to Read and Write" exemplifies the motif of how language is power by describing the development of Douglass's agency as he gains more knowledge.
• Both _The Book Thief_ and "Learning to Read and Write" demonstrate how external culture can influence personal behavior and beliefs in a negative way.
- Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” discusses the dichotomy between slavery and education, one stripping humans of their rights and the other granting agency and elevating status.
ReplyDelete- In both _The Book Thief_ and “Learning to Read and Write” language acts as a persuasive political tactic that incites and spreads ideas that would otherwise remain private.
- Douglass’ slave owner forbids him from learning to read and write because in order for her to treat him as less than a human being--someone without agency or thought-- she wants to keep him from becoming any closer to her own intellectual status.
- Once Douglass begins to read he find himself feeling more trapped than ever in his slavery, though he finally gained what he was wishing for, knowledge only led to more unhappiness.
- Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write” and The Book Thief use learning a language as a way of gaining agency, freedom, and understanding of the world.
ReplyDelete- Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write” shows the theme that learning is both helpful by gaining agency and power; as well as harmful to the person learning by giving them understanding of the wrongs that were going around them.
- The Book Thief and Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write” express the motif that knowledge gives a person more agency and understanding than when they were ignorant.
- Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write” shows the results that a social hierarchy brings to people by limiting their agency and freedom.
- The importance of education/language is illustrated in both The Book Thief and Learning to Read and Write (knowledge=power)
ReplyDelete- In both TBT and Learning to Read and Write an emphasis of culture is shown, and stresses the effects socialization has on an idividual and on a group of people
-Douglass is forbidden to read or write in order to strip away some of his agency, and to dehumanized him
-In both readings the main characters gain agency through language/reading, but both characters discover their lack of agency by learning how to read/write
- Both Liesel and Douglass discover reading and writing as a tool to gain power and strengthen their agency through language.
ReplyDelete- Attaining knowledge can give power and insight, but it can also cause one to miss the absence of knowledge
- Social hierarchies create standards and affect the way one acts and treats others.
- Perseverance to continue to learn to read and write through difficulties adds to one's agency and power
1. Despite the various advantages that result from the acquisition of language, Douglass suggests that there are many dangers, including corruption, that can stem from an elevation of power.
ReplyDelete2. Douglass suggests that while knowledge can indeed be liberating, it makes one aware of their limits, which in turn causes one to deeply desire to return to their initial state of innocence.
3. Reminiscent of Leisel’s relationship to The Grave Digger’s Handbook, Douglass’ attainment of “The Columbian Orator” behaves as a turning point that both positively and negatively impacts his future experiences.
4. Both Frederick Douglass’ Learning to Read and Write, and Markus Zusak's The Book Thief display the motif of a child’s naivety, which Douglass manipulates as his means of attaining education.
1. Knowledge and language usually are forms of power and give people agency, but in Fredrick Douglass' "Learning to Read and Write," Douglass —once he is literate—regrets learning how to read and write and would rather be ignorant.
ReplyDelete2. "Learning to Read and Write" is a prime example that nobody is born racist.
3. In "Learning to Read and Write" and _The Book Theif_ by Markus Zusak, books are used to learn language and give the people knowledge, which in turn gives them power and agency.
4. In both "Naming our Density" by Kee and "Learning to Read and Write," Douglass and Kee and his wife both contemplate doing something they do not want to do just for the sake of regaining agency.
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ReplyDeleteFredrick Douglass' Learning to Read and Write" includes social hierarchy and what it does to people.
ReplyDelete"Learning to Read and Write" and The Book Theif connect because reading and writing affect the main characters in the same way, an escape.
Douglas recognizes how slavery and the political environment in general can affect people, specifically his mistress.
The masters didn't want Douglas to learn to read and write because if he could read and write, he could fully understand his situation and gain agency.
- Both "Learning to Read and Write" and The Book Thief show that learning to read and write provide Liesel and Douglass with agency, and also helps them discover the unjust things happening around them. (Knowledge is power)
ReplyDelete- "Learning to Read and Write" exemplifies the affect the political situation had on the slaveowners. (Social hierarchies)
-Both texts illustrate that social hierarchies are a result of socialization because children are taught to believe and accept that one group of people are above/more important than another.
-In "Learning to Read and Write", Douglass' Mistress and Master don't allow him to be taught to read or write because that would provide him with agency, which would be treating him like a human being.
1.) In "Learning to Read and Write," Douglass' mistress and master have agency and power so they try to prevent him from become literate because language would give him agency.
ReplyDelete2.) After Douglass learns to read–believing that knowledge could provide him freedom— he wishes he was ignorant because his knowledge allows him to see that he could never truly be free.
3.) The mistress' change in attitude toward Douglass shows how their society pressures those who are in power to keep it by taking away others agency similar to Germany during the Holocaust.
4.) In both The Book Thief and "Learning to Read and Write" both protagonists lack agency because they are unable to read and write which demonstrates how important language is in giving a person power.
* Douglass mentions how, because of the knowledge he obtained, he hated his own existence because he wanted to be free so badly, showing how knowledge can be worse than ignorance.
ReplyDelete* Douglass describes how his mistress, who at first was very cordial towards him, from lack of experience, but then takes away that freedom because she was, in a way, taught to do so, showing irony in how learning can be disabling.
* In _The Book Thief_ the speaker mentions Liesel's longing to learn how to read and write, which gives agency by helping her communicate. In "Learning to Read and Write," Douglass is also interested in learning literature, but in both instances they are unable to achieve their desire easily.
* Through the power that white males had at the time, Douglass' master was able to persuade his wife to change her way of seeing slaves and education, and more specifically mentioned, Douglass' education; showing how influential society can be.
* In “Learning to Read and Write”, language and reading are strong motifs throughout the text. These motifs relate to Book Thief and could symbolize knowledge and intelligence in both texts.
ReplyDelete* In “Learning to Read and Write” and The Book Thief, identity and coming of age are both underlying ideas in the texts. These topics relate to each other in the different works, and also stay relevant in their own texts.
* The mistress’ swift change of attitude reveals the loss of agency of Douglass. in Past Germany people could abruptly lose their agency and power just like him, especially if one was a Jew or being known for having opposite views.
* The social hierarchy at the time has white men at the top and black men at the bottom, making it harder for black men to get any means of power. When Douglass learns to read and write it allows him to gain some agency over the others who couldn’t read or write, allowing him to have more power.