QUOTE:
“Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (Douglass 2086).
SUMMARY:
Mrs. Auld teaches Frederick the ABC’s and how to spell little words, but her husband finds out and forbids her to teach him anything else. However, it was too late. Frederick already knew he must learn to read and write, and that knowledge was the path to freedom.
RESPONSE:
Mrs. Auld sure opened up a “can-o-worms” by starting Douglass on his quest for freedom. It makes sense why Mr. Auld would be so scared to have any of his slaves learn anything too, because look what happened? There’s no way slavery could have lasted as long as it did if all of the slaves had the chance to learn even just basic knowledge. It makes me think of the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show, in a way. Once Jim Carrey’s character finds out that there is a whole real world outside of his little fake “T.V. show” world, nobody can stop him from escaping the show.
It’s pretty awesome how Douglass is basically saying that knowledge will set him free, because I think it can be applied to so many other situations. There are probably so many people who can have a better life if they just go back to school and learn. However, I bet that there are also many powerful people who don’t want the majority of people in the country to have a good education, and especially if they rely on cheap labor. Just like how politicians rely on apathy, business owners want the most desperate people who aren’t qualified for better jobs, and are willing to work for minimum wage.
There are the highly rare instances when education can in fact work against somebody. I have a friend who graduated from Stanford, but she can’t find a job now because everyone assumes that she’ll want too much money for her salary. That’s probably just as rare as the high-school dropout becoming a millionaire though! I still agree with Douglass, that knowledge is the path to freedom.
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2 comments:
20/20 He didn't say learning was the path to money; he said it was the path to freedom.
I guess I shouldn't have said anything, but it makes me mad how my friend is trapped doing some professor's research for free now. I didn't mean she has no money, I mean she is working for free in hopes to get her name second on some research paper.
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