In REPLY to this post, write 4 insights on "Learning to Read & Write" that can spark a discussion in class. These "insights" should be sentences of analysis in which you discuss some motif, theme, connection between other texts we've read, etc. These should be either claims or analysis sentences, and you should be able to direct us to parts of the text or other texts that demonstrate your insight.
You have all come so far in your analysis and critical thinking skills, and YOU have learned to be astute readers and writers (See what I did there? 😉 ). Thus, we will use this exercise next class as a way to have a discussion on the texts, but a discussion that YOU ALL LEAD, instead of me. Use these sentences as ways to TEACH me and your fellow classmates critical ways of reading and thinking about the text.
Be ready to discuss your posts.
Write each "insight" as a separate, bulleted sentence.
- For a brief section in the text, Frederick Douglass explains how his acquired literacy was harmful to himself. He subverts the commonly positive connotation of knowledge and learning (103).
ReplyDelete- It is situationally ironic that Douglass did not know what abolitionists were, yet he became an abolitionist himself.
- In both “Learning to Read and Write” and The Book Thief, knowledge (more specifically literacy) give Douglass and Liesel more agency.
- (Claim) Douglass’ determination to learn contributed to the large extent of what he learned. Ex: He would use the old books of his master’s son. He would sacrifice his own food and trade it for reading lessons.
- The woman who is in charge of Douglass has agency over him because she controls his education.
ReplyDelete- Reading/education gives Douglass hope, which is similar to Leisel’s reasoning for learning to read.
- His identity is affected by his surroundings and what he is learning about.
- He is troubled by the burden that knowledge has on him.
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ReplyDelete*similar motifs of language, fear, and education that are explored in the Book Thief were evident in "Learning to Read and Write".
ReplyDelete*it is somewhat ironic or just clever that Douglas, who did not know how to spell, would pretend to know how just to get "lessons" out of other people.
*the light motif is a symbol of knowledge on page 104 when he says, "the light broke upon me by degrees"
* Agency was something that salves lacked because they had a master who takes away their free will.
The political environment in "Learning to Read and Write" effects how people around him see and treat him.
ReplyDeleteIn "Learning to Read and Write" by Fredrick Douglas, and "The Book Thief" by Mark Suzan, both protagonists find power and agency from learning how to read and write.
Unlike Liesel, Douglas does not try to conceal his identity but rather use it to change how people see African Americans.
In "Learning to Read and Write," light represent knowledge however in "The Book Thief" light represents the unknowing.
Yes, in “Learning to Read and Write” and “Book Thief” both protagonists gain agency when they learn how to read and write. To further this thought, the only reason they gain so much agency is because they are restricted from it. Therefore, when they gain that knowledge, they are put in a superior position and are given power in a sense.
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ReplyDelete• The political environment that surrounds Fredrick Douglas changes the motives, actions, and values of the people around him. The environment changes people's views on what is right and what is wrong. Because the dominant culture is so prominent, people must assimilate to its values in order to be safe. The external environment has the power to change people by socializing them to match the rest of society. (Page 2)
ReplyDelete• Liesel and Douglas both delight in reading because it gives them a sense of agency that they are otherwise lacking in their lives. Their surrounding environment tries to take away their agency by banning or forcing certain behaviors. In order to feel somewhat in control, Liesel and Douglas learn to read and write. Both of them feel they need the sense of power that reading gives them, demonstrating that literacy is a form of agency. (Page 3)
• The protagonists in Fredrick Douglas' "Learning to Write" and Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, both have a kind-hearted and warm reading instructor, influencing the way they view reading and socializing them to behave differently than the rest of society. (Page 1-2).
• Fredrick Douglas' "Learning to Write," describes ignorance as bliss to show the struggle between knowing a better life exists and having the power to live that life. (Page 4)
—Fredrick Douglass in "Learning to Read and Write," and Liesel from "The Book Theif," both must learn to read from other people, who are not teachers, meaning those people have power over them, and the agency and freedom Douglass and Liesel are receiving from the education.
ReplyDelete—"Achievement of Desire," describes Richard Rodriguez, a boy who does not fit into his family because of his education. Douglass he is a complete outlier in the slave population because he was educated and to be educated, he deals with the cruelty of his masters. Just like Rodriguez, because of his education, Douglass does not fit in with the others around him, however Douglass must deal with a lot more ridicule and cruelty for his education than Rodriguez.
—Unlike Liesel in "The Book Theif," Fredrick Douglass realizes through becoming literate that 'ignorance is bliss' because he learns of slavery and all about it. This is in opposition to Liesel who uses her newfound education to avoid ridicule at her school.
—Some major motifs in this reading that connect to "The Book Theif," are power, language, agency, light/dark, and ignorance.
In “The Book Thief”, Death uses color and sporadic language to provide distractions, on the other hand, Leisel and Douglas use books.
ReplyDeleteIn “Learning to Read and Write”, the light motif is represented as knowledge which contradicts “The Book Thief” subversion of the light and dark motif.
Douglas’ Learning makes him less happy because he understands the horrible truth behind slavery. Now he wishes he was ignorant -> subversion of knowledge to light and ignorance to dark—> knowledge is dark /ignorance is light.
The disgrace to teach slaves in the time of Fredrick Douglas parallels the persecution Jews went through during the Holocaust. The little boys that helped Douglas read, parallel Hans in “The Book Thief”, becuase they provide the same type of support system/comfort to the protagonist.
-Fredrick Douglas makes it seem ironic that though knowledge is usually associated with power
ReplyDeleteand positivity, though once Fredrick gains knowledge it torments him. This idea of ignorance being bliss connects back to Flowers for Algernon and how knowledge can negatively affect someone.
-Douglas discusses power and how when somebody, like his mistress, is entrusted with extreme power it can make them unkind and lose positive qualities (also like his mistress).
-Douglas also illustrates the irony that in some ways, he as a slave was better off than some of the poor white boys that lived near him.
-Unlike the Book Thief, the light and dark motifs are not subverted, and remain the traditional ideas of dark and light
1. Reading lends itself to knowledge and awareness that are restricted in both cultures and stories.
ReplyDelete2. Motifs: education, knowledge, awareness, reading/writing
3. Fredrick Douglass in "Learning to Read and Write" is faced with obstacles and challenges in his culture that restrict him from reading. Reading provides him with agency so therefore, he is denied and restricted from agency and power.
4. Education and slavery are juxtaposed in that both cannot coexist (Douglass 101).
Test
ReplyDelete•As the slave owner came to power through slavery, her personality and demeanor shifter to become more cruel. This illustrates how power can have a negative effect on a person.
ReplyDelete•The reason education and slavery cannot go together is because they are completely dichotomous. Education gives someone power while slavery strips a slave of their power. Once a slave is able to read, write, and utilize language they have gained power which angers slave owners
•An example of how language gives agency can be seen in paragraph one. The narrator states help how Douglas's emotions were widened and he was able to see new ideas and views because of this. By having the choice to form different opinions he gains power and agency.
•Motifs=power, language, slavery, relationships, change
In "Learning to Read and Write," slavery restricts agency. Douglass is not able to be in control of himself and his masters don't want him to be able to read and write. Slavery has agency over Douglass. In a way, this relates to the weather in "The Book Thief". The weather restricts Liesel's agency, the train's agency, and others too. The weather has agency over all of these.
ReplyDeleteIn "Learning to Read and Write," the education motif is played. For Douglass, learning to read and write can serve as a distraction from the fact that he is a slave for life. It can serve as a distraction from all the political issues of the time. This can also relate to "The Book Thief," in how the narrator uses the colors as a distraction.
Douglass' master in the beginning "Learning to Read and Write," is characterized as sweet and tender hearted. This is dichotomous to the traditional views of masters in slavery. It's also ironic how she is so sweet when doing a horrible thing at the same time, similar to death's characterization in "The Book Thief",
In "Learning to Read and Write," education for slaves is opposing the traditional views of the people of the time. Therefore, if Douglass did learn to read it would give him a sense of power or agency, which could be a reason why the culture of the time disapproves of slaves having as good education.
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ReplyDeleteOn page 4 of Frederick Douglass's "Learning to Read and Write," Douglass describes how literacy both liberates him and further enforces his status as a slave. While he is no longer ignorant about what freedom looks like, he still doesn't have the agency which would allow him to become free. He would rather be a slave who is unaware than a slave who knows about the possibility of freedom, but can't attain it for himself.
ReplyDelete"Learning to Read and Write," and The House on Mango Street both connect the ability to write to agency. Douglass says, "I wished to learn how to write, as I might have occasion to write my own pass" (5). As a slave he has no agency because he must do what his master says, but by running away he would be taking control of his life. Before, feels like her culture and socioeconomic status stop her from creating her own identity. By writing her own story she uses agency to define her identity for herself.
In "Learning to Read and Write" and The Book Thief, Douglass's mistress and Mr. Steiner's cruelty toward either Jewish people or slaves, despite their moral conscience, parallel each other. While their initial impulse is to be kind to these oppressed groups, the political environment pressures them to suppress any feelings of sympathy they have.
Liesel and Douglass are seemingly opposites. Liesel is a German girl and Douglass is an African American man. Also, Liesel is not a Jew while Douglass is a slave. However, they have similar stories. Both of them are powerless and uneducated, but have a hunger for knowledge. One thing that highlights their parallelism is when the texts state that Liesel must learn to write on the wall of her basement and Douglass has to learn to write on brick walls or pavement.
• Both Liesel from "The Book Thief" and Frederick Douglass from "Learning to Read and Write" want to learn how to read so they can gain more agency in their situation. In school Liesel is very behind all of her peers, and she is treated badly and looked down upon on because of it. By learning to read and write she can be more respected and accepted. Frederick gains ideas and knowledge from reading, such as the idea that he could be free. This gives him more agency because it gives him the power to think for himself.
ReplyDelete• Frederick and Liesel both live in societies with very distinct hierarchies, which leads them to crave knowledge and literature in the hopes that they can avoid being on the bottom of the totem pole. In Frederick's society, people who are white are seen as superior over people who are black. In Liesel's, society, both black people and Jewish people are seen as subhuman to white people.
• Many people can start off with rejecting the status quo but are gradually sucked in to supporting it. This is visible in The Book Thief when Rudy's dad doesn't necessarily agree with the Nazis, but is too scared for his family's safety to fight back. Frederick's mistress also is nice to him at the beginning, but before long she becomes cruel and angry.
• "Learning to Read and Write" by Frederick Douglass shows how sometimes ignorance is bliss. This is apparent when he starts to read books for the first time and discovers that other slaves have been set free or run away, and he begins to want that for himself too.
-The light-dark motif represents knowledge and ignorance respectively, unlike the subverted version in the Book Thief. (Pg. 1)
ReplyDelete-Although the lack of agency of slaves is clear, Frederick Douglass' "Learning to Read and Write" suggests that many of the free people around them lacked agency as well (pg 1-2).
-It is somewhat ironic that the enslaved Douglass was better off in the area of food than many of the poor white boys who lived near him (pg 1).
-The change that Douglass describes in his mistress, who had originally agreed to teach him to read before being ordered to stop by her husband, is an example of external identity construction (pg 1).
-Douglass' mistress is very kind and caring at first, but she soon took advantage of having a slave, like most people. Not only did she succumb to the political side of things, she also gave into the opinions and practices of her husband, and started to be strict and cruel to Douglass.
ReplyDelete-First of all, both Douglass and Liesel are unable to read and write. But when they learn to read, it gives them knowledge of the power they could have, but not that they actually have. When Liesel finds out that her mother was taken away by Hitler, she suddenly hates him, but she can't do anything about it (lack of agency) or else she would be putting her and her family at risk.
-To these characters, reading represents a sense of knowledge and freedom. Reading opens the doors to new opportunities and ideas for them. Douglass may not be allowed to learn to read because slave owners know that books and newspaper hold information that they don't want the slaves to know. The masters fear that if the slaves find out private information, they could rebel and ultimately gain power.
-After owning a slave for some time, Douglass' mistress took advantage of having a slave, and she stopped nurturing and caring for him the way she used to. In a way. The society around her sucked all of her good qualities out of her. In the Book Thief, many Germans who may be good people are brain-washed into thinking that Jews are the absolute worst and should die.
-Douglass' mistress treated him with generosity and kindness upon first meeting, although he was technically her slave. She began to teach him to read and write, but eventually lost her warmth and care for him. The political environment around her of master to slave changed the way she looked at Douglass. Similarly, the political environment of master to slave surrounding Douglass led him to sometimes wish he was dead in a search for agency and power.
ReplyDelete-Both Douglass and Liesel desire to read and write. The cultures they are both surrounded by contain violence, and the condemnation or rejection of a certain group of people in the minority (African Americans and Jews plus many others).
-Reading represents agency, power, and a choice. Douglass has been denied agency as a slave, while Liesel is an impoverished child who cannot read or write is also someone who lacks agency. Douglass is not allowed to learn in fear that he, along with the other slaves, will acquire power over their masters and cause a revolt.
-In the BT and "Learning to Read and Write" there is a common theme of removing agency by preventing learning (BT-books are burned, LRW-slaves face punishments if they learn to read, and have very little opportunities to learn)
-Some BT motifs: color, light/dark, language
• Douglass and his mistress’ identities were being externally constructed because of slavery.
ReplyDelete• The ignorance vs awareness motif is seen through Douglass’ life with literacy and other slaves’ lives without being literate.
• Reading and writing are important to Douglass because, to him, they represent freedom.
• Motifs: dark vs light, freedom/agency, ignorance vs awareness, oppression, rebellion
How are these ideas similar or opted to the Book Thief?
Delete
ReplyDelete~Frederick Douglas notices that the political environment surrounding his culture seems to find a way to affect most people, causing them to mistreat slaves and view slaves as less than human. This happened to Douglas' master and she changed from being kind towards him to mistreating him just like the societal norm at the time. (Page 2)
~The education motif is era prominent us both this story as well as The Book Thief. Liesel and Douglas both have a passion and goal to be able to read and write because they want answers and to make sense of everything going on around them. They also feel excluded not being able to read and write unlike everyone else around them.
~In both texts, there is an abuse of agency/power. In "Learning to Read and Write," Douglas' master abuses her use of agency making immoral decisions. She doesn't let Douglas read and she strictly monitors where he is and what he does. Rosa, in a way, abuses her agency when it comes to Liesel, by having Liesel do her work and carry out some of her tasks that she should be doing.
~Liesel and Douglas' cultures are very similar because, in a way, they both are slearated from their society. Douglas is a slave which puts many limitations on what he does and puts up a barrier at first glance when people look at him. Liesel is separated from her use not only is she adopted, but she also doesn't know how to read or write which differentiates her from the other kids her age who are "normal" and have been reading and writing since they were young.
1. Because Liesel is a child, she might represent innocence and juxtapose death who is aware and knowledgeable of the negative events that are going on around him. It works the same way as Frederick learning to read. His internal conflicts are between his past ignorant self versus his more educated self.
ReplyDelete2. Frederick’s political environment influences him to think negatively of himself and not consider living.
3. Douglas’ newfound knowledge allows him to see his life from a new perspective and angle, thus changing his views on how society should be managed.
4. Frederick’s ability to read and write gives him more agency over his life despite the fact that he is still a slave.
In “Learning to Read and Write,” the mistress was very welcoming and amiable to Frederick Douglas, in the beginning, but the influence of slavery leads the mistress to mistreat Douglas.
ReplyDeleteThe slave holders don’t want Frederick Douglas to learn how to read and write because they want to keep him in the dark, or ignorant, about his situation as a slave.
The text mentions the light motif when Douglas is learning to read and write because he is starting to gain knowledge through learning.
Frederick Douglas explains how the more he reads, the more he grows to hate his enslaves and wants to escape which suggests that the more knowledge he gains, the more agency he craves.
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ReplyDelete~“Learning to Read & Write” has a theme of education, just like “Achievement of Desire.” But, in “Learning to Read & Write” Fredrick Douglass pursues education despite the deadly sacrifice it is. It is his passion.
ReplyDelete~Since Douglass talks about his time as a slave in “Learning to Read & Write,” readers cna most likely understand that the Slavs masters did not approve of slaves knowing how to read and write. In fact, it was illegal for slaves to do such a thing. The violence motif appears when his mistress used bother physical and verbal abuse a student a consequence of reading and writing.
~In order to continue learning how to read and write, Douglass needed motivation. Motivation and determination is what made him want to keep gaining knowledge, despite the abuse he went through to do so.
~Douglass, as a young black boy, befriended young while boys and they helped educate him. This was Douglass’s strategy: he used his time spent with friends to learn how to read and write.