...The main focus of the passage, Frederick Douglass Learning to Read and Write, is to explain the struggles that Frederick Douglass faced as he began to learn to become literate. Even though I am not a slave or not allowed to learn, I still struggled as a child when it came to learning how to read and write. I learn completely different from many other students since I am dyslexic. Dyslexia is a learning disability that causes people to have difficulty in learning, reading, and interpreting words or letter. However, dyslexia does not affect my intelligence or my appearance. My dyslexia detracts me from learning and understanding, and that sometimes making education hard. As a child my learning differences made me feel judged or misunderstood,...
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...Frederick Douglass, a slave whom evolved to editor, public speaker and a leader in the abolitionist movement, expresses his own struggles of learning as a slave in the early 1800s in his piece “Learning to Read and Write”. As a slave, Douglass studies how to read and write with the help of those around him. He eventually succeeds in achieving his ambitions, yet, remains with the desire to become a free man. As he gains more knowledge, Douglass has to change the methods he acquires his education to elude the punishment from the slave owners; he resorts to enticing children to assist him in learning during his free time. Douglass uses complex vocabulary, strong diction and unique metaphors to provide his audience with a clear and undisputed perspective of his opinion on slavery. His determination, through his writing, encourages the audience to support the abolitionist movement to cease the horrid practice of slavery. Uniquely, Douglass uses metaphors to help convey a heightened sense of emotion and imagery to his piece. He has effectively expressed his inspiring devotion to acquire knowledge, and his undying determination to become a free man; however, his achievements became a dark pit of despair upon his realization of his grim reality....
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...March 16, 2014 English 104 Frederick Douglass Article Analysis In the reading by Frederick Douglass, Learning to Read, he talks about how he learned how to read. He grew up in Maryland and he talks about how his mistress, his slave owners’ wife, taught him the alphabet and how to read. Eventually she stopped, due to him being a slave he wasn’t suppose to know how to read, and Douglass had to continue to learn how to read by himself. One thing Frederick Douglass could have done was to put some details about his family. He never mentioned his mom, dad, siblings or if he had any. If he did it would have interesting to know what they did or felt about him learning to read and write. It would have also been interesting to know if his mom, dad, and siblings were also being taught by the mistress to read as well. If his family wasn’t in the same household with him then he could have elaborated on their whereabouts or just said something about his family would have been good. In this article Frederick Douglass states that “making friends of all the little white boys, I converted them into teachers,” meaning that the little white boys he met he used them to help him read. Douglass could have went into more details about exactly what did the little white boys do that he consider them his “teachers” and how did they do their teachings to him. In the article he just briefly discussed this issue and didn’t get into many details. He did give good details when describing...
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...Throughout history, many great works of literature were written and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is one of them. This book is important because its publication made people realize slavery was bad for everyone, not just the slaves. To add on, in each important piece of literature, the author has reasons to write the book. Frederick Douglass has three reasons to write this narrative and these are the reasons made his book a great book. The first reason is to bring to life a slave’s experiences as a slave. In his narrative, he says, “A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (1). Frederick didn’t even know his own age which is a basic right everyone has now. Slaves were deprived of their basic rights because of slavery. Douglass’s experience...
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...Although throughout the Narrative, Frederick Douglass has a tendency to skip around often and does not always follow a completely chronological ordering, the work begins with his childhood. Frederick Douglass gives a summary of how he, like many other slave children, has no idea when his birthday is but as far he can guess it must have been around 1818. He was separated from his mother right after he was born (which he imagines was because they did not want the bonds of family to develop naturally between families) but recalls how sometimes she would walk at night from a neighboring plantation to sleep with him. As this important part of this summary of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” makes clear, he tells the reader that she died but because of his lack of connection with her the news did not have much of an impact on him. All Frederick Douglass knows about his father is that he is a white man based on his light skin tone and rumors he’s heard to confirm it. Frederick Douglass then gives the reader a brutal short summary of that the rape of female slaves by their white masters actually benefits slavery because by law the products of the rape become slaves themselves. When you’re reading this analysis and summary of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” and throughout the text itself, you should notice the way Douglass makes reference not just to the cruelty of slavery as an institution, but also how he shows the way it has become institutionalized through...
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...Although Frederick Douglass wrote several autobiographies during his lifetime, none continues to have the lasting literary impact of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. From its publication in 1845 to its present status in the American literary canon, the Narrative has become one of the most highly acclaimed American autobiographies ever written. Published seven years after Douglass' escape from his life as a slave in Maryland, the Narrative put into print circulation a critique of slavery that Douglass had been lecturing on around the country for many years. Yet while the Narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of being a slave, it also reveals his psychological insights into the slave/master relationship. What Douglass realizes that day is that literacy is equated with not only individual consciousness but also freedom. From that day, Douglass makes it his goal to learn as much as he can, eventually learning how to write, a skill that would provide him with his passport to freedom. What gives the book its complexity is Douglass' ability to incorporate a number of sophisticated literary devices...
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...Frederick Douglass was born to a slave mother in Maryland and to a white father. After he escaped slavery he worked to free other slaves and fought for the civil rights of recently freed slaves. He was a newspaper editor, lecturer, and author of several books. This essay is a summary and analysis for one of his books that he wrote titled The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave (1841). Frederick Douglass was born in slavery his mother was a slave and his father was a white man. His mistress would often teach him how to read from a newspaper. Douglass liked his mistress because she didn’t treat him as a slave she treats him like a human being and took care of his basic needs. His master didn’t like how the mistress was treating Douglass so he forbids her to ever teach him how to read and to stop treating him with respect. Per her husband’s request the mistress made sure he never saw a newspaper again and he was also being watched carefully compared to the other slaves. After he was forbidden to ever be taught again Douglass’ passion for reading and writing grew stronger....
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...English 200 Argumentative Synthesis DeAloia Length: 3—4 pages, formatted according to MLA style Audience: College-level reader familiar with the work of Frederick Douglass and of Erich Fromm at a general level Purpose: In this assignment you will use three skills fundamental to academic writing—summarizing, analyzing, and synthesizing. These skills will also help begin to build our theme, the tensions and complexities involved in the struggle between free will and obedience. Points: 100 Due Dates: 11:00 p.m., February 10: Send thesis paragraph & outline of rough draft—as a Word document formatted according to MLA style*—to instructor via UD email attachment Optional: on your own and as you wish, arrange to exchange rough drafts with a peer for feedback via Isidore Chat, visit the Write Place, and/or visit DeAloia during office hours with your questions* 11:00 p.m., February 12: Instructor provides feedback on thesis paragraphs & outlines of rough drafts via UD email attachment 11:00 p.m., February 14**: As an attachment in Word, submit final draft of Argumentative Synthesis to Isidore Assignments, “Argumentative Synthesis” *NOTE: For additional information on how to prepare...
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...fluently and coherently. Correspondence 1. A close similarity, connection, or equivalence. Emulate 1. Match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation. Summary: In “A Homemade Education” by Malcolm X, Malcolm X takes you through his uplifting journey while in prison of becoming more literal by aiding himself with books, and other materials the prison library gave him. Malcolm X started his educational expedition at Norfolk Prison Colony, where he read Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. Shorty Malcolm got his hands on a dictionary, where he began studying the pages, looking over all of the words that he had never knew even existed; furthermore, he began copying the words down on his tablets- word by word, a page a day. He would write it all down, then read aloud his own handwriting, until he became comfortable reading aloud. Even though he was stuck inside prison walls he felt as if he had never truly been free until he fully understood how “to read and understand literature”. Analysis: Malcolm X has a very power touch to his writing that automatically interests you to his writing. Malcolm X’s text seeks to show the reader how education will set you free, and that you have the power to make your own destiny. Homemade Education describes Malcolm X’s wrestle and frustration while sitting in his jail cell feeling nothing but hopelessness. He felt more...
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...Leonid Fridman wrote an essay titled, “America Needs Its Nerds”, in which he described the derogatory terms and meanings that accompany words such as “nerd” and “geek”. I disagree with Fridman’s view on this topic. Though the terms “nerd” and “geek” may have negative connotations, they are not always meant in a negative manner. Also, Fridman states that nerds and geeks “are ostracized but athletes are idolized” (Fridman 1). I do not always think that statement is true either. For example, in the Greencastle School District, there are many students who value schoolwork, and are not “ostracized” for their dedication to school. There are also students who are dedicated to both sports and academics, which is very respectable. I believe that the...
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...Analysis of Fredrick Douglass’s Narrative David W. Blight is a professor, who teaches as of November 2, 2015 American History at Yale University. Blight obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1985 with a thesis titled “Keeping Faith in Jubilee : Fredrick Douglass and the Meaning of the Civil War.”Before Yale University, he taught at Amherst College for thirteen years. He has wrote many annotated editions on slavery and as of late, he is working on another biography of Fredrick Douglass.He has received a handful of awards, these include: Lincoln Prize,Bancroft Prize,Fredrick Douglass Prize, Merle Curti award and James A. Rawley prize. Anyhow The introduction by David Blight was very well constructed and It would’ve helped if...
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...Course Number and Title: American Literature 1 Number of Credits: 3 Instructor Name: Sos Bagramyan Email Address: sbagramyan@aua.am Telephone Number: 51 27 69 Office Location: Paramaz Avedisian Building, 132W Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 8am-9am Term/Year: Spring 2015 ENGL 120 – American Literature 1 This survey course introduces students to American literature from the beginning of European contact to the present, focusing on major authors and different literary genres. It examines the historical influences on the evolution of this body of literature and the construction of a distinct and complex American identity. Through close reading, class discussion and their own research and writing, students will explore how themes such as gender, race, class, spirituality, economics, and the environment play a role in the formation and evolution of the American experience Three hours of instructor-led class time per week. Required Materials: All readings are located in PDF format on our course’s Moodle page. Academic Integrity: All graded assignments must completed individually. Plagiarism is a serious offense, and any attempt to pass off another person's ideas and writings as your own will result in severe disciplinary measures, possibly expulsion from the university. This also applies to your Informal Responses, which should reflect your own understanding of the material and not simply repeat what I or your classmates have already said. Students are required...
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...DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.......................................................................9 ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES.......................................................................................................9 ACTIVITIES FOR USING THE FILM ADAPTATION........................................................ 11 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES................................................................................................... 13 ABOUT THE AUTHORS OF THIS GUIDE.......................................................................... 13 Also available in a black-spine Penguin Classics edition Copyright © 2014 by Penguin Group (USA) For additional teacher’s manuals, catalogs, or descriptive brochures, please email academic@penguin.com or write to: PENGUIN GROUP (USA) Academic Marketing Department 375...
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...University of North Carolina at Pembroke English and Theatre DEPARTMENT COURSE: ENG 2100: African American Literature Fall 2014 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Charles Tita OFFICE: West Building, Office of Distance Education OFFICE HOURS: Monday 4-6 and Tuesday/Thursday 10:30-12 OFFICE PHONE: 521 6352 FAX: 910 521 6762 EMAIL ADDRESS: charles.tita@uncp.edu LECTURE TIME: Tuesday/Thursday 2-3:15pm LOCATION: DIAL 147 REQUIRED TEXT Gates Jr., Henry Louis, and Nellie Y. McKay, eds. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004. OPTIONAL REFERENCES Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro. New York: Atheneum, 1968. hooks, bell. Teaching to Trangress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994. Harrold, Stanley. American Abolitionists. New York: Pearson Education, 2001. Youngs, J. William T. American Realities: Historical Episodes-From First Settlements to the Civil War. New York: Longman, 2000. Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press, 1963. COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey of African American literature, introducing students to genres, trends, and major periods of African American literature, ranging from the 17th-, 18th- and 19th- century autobiographies and narratives to 20tth –century works. Authors include: Jupiter Hammon, Briton Hammon, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, Sterling Brown, Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S UP FROM SLAVERY By VIRGINIA L. SHEPHARD, Ph.D., Florida State University S E R I E S E D I T O R S : W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery 2 INTRODUCTION Booker T. Washington’s commanding presence and oratory deeply moved his contemporaries. His writings continue to influence readers today. Although Washington claimed his autobiography was “a simple, straightforward story, with no attempt at embellishment,” readers for nearly a century have found it richly rewarding. Today, Up From Slavery appeals to a wide audience from early adolescence through adulthood. More important, however, is the inspiration his story of hard work and positive goals gives to all readers. His life is an example providing hope to all. The complexity and contradictions of his life make his autobiography intellectually intriguing for advanced readers. To some he was known as the Sage of Tuskegee or the Black Moses. One of his prominent biographers, Louis R. Harlan, called him the “Wizard of the Tuskegee Machine.” Others acknowledged him to be a complicated person and public figure. Students of American social and political history have come to see that Washington lived a double life. Publicly he appeased the white establishment...
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