I never knew a ton of things about slavery. Before reading the excerpt, I only knew how cruel slavery was, what happened to the slaves, and how it was stopped. Now, I know what slaves like Douglass thought about slavery. After reading the excerpt from the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, I understand how Douglass learned about the cruel nature of slavery and why he thinks of his enslavers as criminals. I also understand why he wanted to be an animal and why he began to think of reading as a curse instead of a blessing.

Douglass learned about slavery by reading a book called “The Columbian Orator”. In this book, he reads some of Sheridan’s speeches over and over again with great interest. After reading, he learns about the nature of slavery and human rights. This is what Douglass says in the excerpt: “What I got from slavery was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights.” However, later in the excerpt, Douglass begins to regret reading these speeches as they begin to make him think about his enslavers and freedom. …show more content…
He also regarded them this way because he felt their was no other way to describe them. The more Douglass read the speeches, the more he loathed his enslavers. This is what Douglass says in the excerpt: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange and reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men.” Douglass then begins to think of learning to read as a curse, and that he should’ve listened to Master Hugh’s warnings about him being “unfit for