"Learning to Read and Write" Literary Response

Michael Mullen
Ms. Brown
Ap English III
10/22/08

Frederick Douglass did a very good job in his essay titled ‘Learning to Read and Write’. He did this by establishing his central claims, elaborating, and giving evidence to back up what he was saying. The imagery he used was easily understood, and he explained the process in a precise and easily understood way. It was a nonfictional narrative story, an autobiography on part of his life, and I believe his style in this essay reflects that.
When reading an essay like this, I would never expect to see many similes and metaphors at all, and there were none that stood out. This is because Douglass wanted the reader to focus on his process, which he wrote in order of how he did it. This is his central contention, he first told of how he learned the alphabet, then he gave details on how that turned out. Afterwards he gave his source of knowledge to read from the alphabet that he was taught, he gave details and elaborated after this. Finally, he told the readers how he learned how to write. He explained this as one of the more difficult skills, but got it done. He rarely went outside of the main topic, but when he did it still related to the story. In a way, it made the story more readable. Instead of just reading of his outside life, he told of what was going on I his brain as well, while all of this knowledge was pushed in.
He wrote a simple essay and didn’t add any figurative language to bring some color to it. I believe this is because he wanted to entertain the reader with his learning process, so they may be able to follow the same process as well. If Douglass were to put in too much figurative language, it would have been harder to comprehend. Instead of immediately knowing what he was trying to say, we would have to decipher the metaphor he made instead. The real purpose of the essay may have been overlooked if he did this.
The text has a serious tone, one that brings the reader through the process of learning with Douglass. He wrote it perfectly for the audience, which could be people of many ages because of the style and its simplicity. Emotionally, Douglass gave a lot to this piece. He told the burden of his knowledge of as a black slave, and how he knew his chances of being set free were low. He looked onto the free white boys with envy at times, wishing to be in their place, and the reader can understand why. Instead of learning in a school like they do he is forced to sneak around and get a second person education. He has to learn from other children that have recently learned the subject themselves. The reader feels sorrow for Douglass, who was born into slavery and never got a good chance to learn anything at all, since slaves could not be taught to read or write. In the end, the reader is proud though because he can use this basic knowledge to keep learning. The greatest credibility is the text itself. It proves that Douglass learned to read and write. Throughout the entire essay, he gave this proof. And since it is so well written, it is good proof. He gave the best credibility he could have in the situation and established his claim to be true.
Overall, Douglass wrote an elaborate essay that provided well thought out details and facts. He proved his title by writing the essay by itself. He gave proof that cannot be disproved, so the reader would have to believe him. He did all of this with little or no use from figurative language, reflecting his style and personality. It was a well written essay and I saw no flaws in it or ways to make it better.