Knowledge Vs. Ignorance

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Recommended: Analysis of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

If it was not for Frederick Douglass’s learning to read and write, he may have been lived his entire life as a slave, a mere “brute” that no one knows of today. He may have died as an ignorant servant, always submissive under the hands of his merciless white master. He may have never seen the light, success, or integrity that comes with knowledge and freedom. These are all subtle, yet mind-blowing details that were emphasized through Douglass’s text. In his narrative, Douglass portrays how he went against the odds by self-educating himself, which was an act that required great determination and caution on the side of a mere slave, for education was considered a tremendous danger towards the white, slave-holding society. Because he loathed the injustice of slavery and he was willing to risk his life to rid himself of it, Douglass never ceased to think of freedom. Frederick Douglass's memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, truly portrays that through one’s determination and the aid of a kind Providence, knowledge becomes a superpower against the weapon of ignorance as it serves as a crossroad between the appalling chains of slavery and the “silver trump of freedom” in a prejudiced, Pre-Civil War society. Not only does Frederick Douglass believe that the pathway from slavery to freedom would be achieved through education and knowledge, but he also sets his mind on it until he learns to read and write. This he accomplished with the help of various stratagems as he was narrowly watched after Mr. Auld's discussion with Mrs. Auld, in which he explained to her the dangers of teaching a slave how to read. Mr. Auld specifically warns her that learning would pamper the “best nigger” in the world and that teaching a nigger h... ... middle of paper ... ...for this kind Providence in his favor. In addition, it was this same external force that gave him faith and a spirit of hope in the gloomiest hours of his “career” in slavery and to this God, Douglass offered “praise and thanksgiving.” Thus, the power of knowledge transcends the mere text of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as it proves to be the fuel to a once submissive slave who with its gain, becomes an honorable, free man. Ignorance, on the other hand, is always employed negatively in Douglass's text as slaveholders regard it as a weapon to trap their slaves under their merciless hands and plunge them into the hells of slavery without reconcile. But once Frederick Douglass was able to identify the difference between these two binaries, he was able to ascend in the social hierarchy and free himself of that unjust institution of American society.

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