Sherman And Frederick Douglass Comparison Essay

Fredrick Douglass and Sherman Alexie both were oppressed individuals that had to overcome adversity to learn to read and write. Douglass was a slave from Maryland in 1818, while Sherman was born in 1966 and raised on an Indian reservation in Washington. Both of these men had to fight to learn to read, and write. Douglass, being a slave, and Sherman being a Native American, both came from group of people that were looked down upon by almost everyone. Douglass had people that helped him along his way; some people volunteered and some he tricked. Sherman taught himself how to read and picked up on things rather fast. Douglass had very few chances to read and obtain books, while Sherman had opportunities to get books. Regardless of how they learned how to read they each had to overcome different obstacles to achieve the same goal. Douglass and Sherman were both held back by racism and people were prejudice towards them. Since Douglass was a slave, he had no way to advance his education and was not given the opportunity to try. Douglass had a mistress that taught him how to read until the master found out and put a stop to it. Not only

He had a mistress for a little bit of time teaching him, but the master soon found out and put a stop to it immediately. Douglass found other ways to learn. At the ship yard he would tell those kids he could write better than them. He would write letters that he saw on pieces of timber. The only letters he knew were “S,L,F,A”(Douglas, 123) He would also bribe the poor kids in the neighborhood with bread and in return to get lessons. Sherman had no one to help him. Before even knowing how to read he picked up how a paragraph was a, “fence that held words” (Alexie, 16). He taught himself at a very young age to read and read books like “Grapes of Wrath” as a kindergartener. In school he fought with his class mates because he was answering question that the teacher asked. (Alexie,