From
reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
I figured that there are significant roles that education plays, in terms of
pursuing Douglass’s ultimate goal, or his freedom. As being a former slave,
Douglass escaped from his Maryland slaveholder. Narrative reveals his strong
courage on his journey from slave to free man. Upon his journey, Douglass
mentioned his idea to pursue freedom by looking into knowledge and education,
taking tenacious and ingenious efforts of learning how to read and write. He
shows us that, to be a slave was not only to be in bondage physically but
mentally, and to gain knowledge and education is the intellectual tool that
takes him to become free. As a reader, I can essentially see some significant
insights in his education formation in relation to his freedom.
One of the key features in this story is definitely the
education as the path of freedom, especially looking from his mental aspect
that he sees himself intellectual. Throughout the story, I can see that gaining education can be
something both appreciating and miserable. Douglass said, “In moments of agony, I envied my
fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I
preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter
what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition
that tormented me”(Douglass 84). This indicates that he is placed in
different level upon gaining education than others; from that point on, he no
longer referred to himself as ignorant. However, from his understanding upon
the current situation, the true reality of slavery of his people was a great
burden for him to handle. Douglass experiences a
crisis since he realizes that, while education has set his mind free, he is
still a slave, and that he wishes that he was uneducated again, because he
believes his plight is worse off than an uneducated slave. As a reader, I can see that Douglass presented education as the primary means to free him, and
as his intellectual tool to work for the freedom of all slaves, though it also
served as his suffering from his mental perspective.
As far as story goes, I think the idea that education
sets the freedom is part of the biggest factor in this story. Though Douglass senses
this notion, he suffers by such cruel reality that hits as slave himself. Rather
than providing immediate freedom, this suffering serves him a doubt. As a
reader, I think if slaves can articulate the injustice of their consequences
through education, then it would help them to recognize themselves as men
rather than slaves, and free them from slavery.
Hey there Yuuki,
ReplyDeleteI really like your point on education being not only Frederick Douglas’ mental freedom, but also the source of agony. It is incredible to hear Douglas envy his fellow-slaves’ stupidity. It reminds me of the phrase “Ignorance is bliss”. One could easily be content in life by not knowing the true world around them, but then what’s the point of living? If someone goes through life in ignorance it seems to me that they “go with the flow” so heavily that they never make their own decisions. They live life without purpose. I know it’s a bit radical in thought, but I just strongly believe that people should know what is happening around them. There are terrorist groups and government deceit and economic turmoil around the world but people seem to not care or they just ignore it. We are living in an age in which information can be distributed so fast that revolutions can take place through the internet, but people would rather pay attention to what Kim Kardashian had for breakfast.
I’ve deviated from my point. I wanted to discuss the importance of self-education beyond school. I see Douglas as an inspiration for the value of knowledge and perseverance. As we see through his narrative, it was difficult for him to feasibly learn much anything. He however teaches himself to read and write because he felt it as something of high value. I have always valued education and knowledge more than results on a test. I understand that some examinations do test intelligence, but large amounts now only demand memorization. This is more prevalent in grade school than in college, which is just as bad. Kids are held to national standards and are expected to pass tests rather than truly learn subjects. I know it’s difficult for kids, especially adolescents, to hold education to a higher value, but it definitely should become the norm. What do you think, Yuuki?
I really enjoyed reading this piece because I think that gaining an education is one of the most important factors in Frederick Douglass’s narrative. I was caught off guard however when Douglass stated that he “…envied his fellow-slaves for their stupidity (84).” His statement made me think of the phrase “ignorance is bliss,” meaning that ignoring a situation or circumstance can bring a person to happiness. But does being unaware of your surroundings and only seeing things from one perspective really make people content? I have to disagree. Ignoring your true situation and living a false reality is not embracing all that life has to offer. Ignorance cannot contribute to ones happiness. I think that it is important for people to challenge themselves and step outside of what is comfortable to them, and this is exactly what Douglass did. Instead of living in ignorance, he changed his situation.
ReplyDeleteDouglass also says that “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing (84).” I can see where he is coming from, in thinking that it probably would have been easier if he were just like everyone else. Douglass had it within him to separate himself. He was obviously an intelligent man to be able to teach himself to read and write, and have the will power to change his situation and although he was a slave, his mind had been freed because of his knowledge. He could have easily decided to give up on pursuing his education and obeyed as he was supposed to do, but he didn’t and I think that that speaks volumes for how courageous he was.
I really liked how you mentioned that slavery needs bondage mentally as well as physically and knowledge would set one free. This also led to the idea that Douglass’s knowledge would set him free in the long run. While reading this, I couldn’t help to think of the passage “[t]he more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers” (Douglass 33). I clearly have a different edition than you, but we see the same point. I find it interesting that the more he learned, the more he knew there was a way out of his bondage and a way to his freedom. If he had been able to free himself with the newly found knowledge that had been bestowed upon him, would he be able to maybe help free other slaves? Did the other slaves have an idea of how to free themselves of the horrible lives that they had? As Meghan mentioned above, “I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 33), the comment ignorance is bliss is a bit of an understatement. I don’t think that Douglass really wanted ignorance; he wanted a way to be free while still knowing what he knew. This statement, I feel, sums up what he is feeling more than the want for ignorance.
ReplyDelete