Douglass complicates Kozol because slavery is a disadvantage to democracy that results in economic decay, and not just illiteracy. Kozol informs, “Illiterates cannot travel freely” (Kozol 153). If one was able to travel, then one can either gain knowledge from the people, or share knowledge to the people of the place one will visit. However, Illiterates could not do that because even if they had some good knowledge about something, they could not move to any place unknown to them. On the other hand, Douglass declares “The good Irishman seemed to be deeply [...]. They both advised me to run away to the north; [...]” (Douglass 136). Literacy is not the obstacle Douglass deals with, but slavery is the one that keeps him not giving his voice in