Introduction
Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe in Maryland by Harriet Bailey, a black American while his father was a white American. Apparently, his mother was working as a slave working for Mr. Stewart, who he (Douglass) believed he was his biological father, since at that time, the masters used to sexually abuse their slaves, especially women (Frederick 17-18). However, despite being brought up in such a slavery experience, he was determined to break the chains and succeed in life. In order to achieve this he started to seek ways of reading and writing, and the immediate help for this was the wife to one of his master, Mrs. Auld.
Body
The road to success was not smooth, since Mr. Auld was against the idea. He (Mr. Auld) warned his wife about teaching Douglass how to read. He said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell.” (Frederick 40-41). Douglass contemplated this quote that if he learns how to read A, B, and C, he will manage to read words, sentence, and paragraphs, and that is his core aim.
Apparently, Douglass felt bad for these words especially due to the fact that it would be difficult for him to get another facilitator in pursuing his dream. He knew that it was rare for masters to teach their slaves how to read and write (good that they didn't have professional writing services that time :-D) . This means that for him to get another chance of being taught was close to impossible. Apparently, he didn`t gave up and he finally managed to coax white boys to teach him (Frederick 44).
Conclusion
Though Mr. Auld managed to convinced his wife concerning the dangers of teaching a slave on how to read and write, Douglass didn`t give up. Through his passion for education, he managed to succeed in life.
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