The Impact of Slavery

In “Leaning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass emphasizes the impact slavery has during his time period. He explains that he lived in Master’s Hugh’s family for the majority of the time. During his stay, he successfully learned to read and write.

Douglas describes his mistress as a “kind and tender-hearted woman” in the beginning (148). When Douglas first moved in, she treated Douglas “as she supposed one human ought to treat another” (148). She was a sentimental, caring woman who gave food to the hungry and clothes to the poor. However, this all drastically changes with the implementation of slavery, for it “proved its ability to divest her of [her] heavenly qualities” (148). The mistress stopped educating Douglass, and he was not allowed to be taught by any at all. He states that “slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me,” and this shows how her character began to change. Douglas states that “her tender heart became like-stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness” (148). His mistress became a new person, and abandoned her old feelings and interests. Eventually, she became outraged at the site of Douglass holding a newspaper.

Douglass soon learned that education and slavery “were incompatible with each other” (149). However, because the mistress sparked his interest in reading, he was determined to succeed. Originally, the mistress wanted Douglass to learn to read, for she did not want his mind to go to waste. The mistress selflessly took the first step by teaching him the alphabet, and nothing could be done to prevent him from learning more.

In the piece, the mistress is obviously a dynamic character. This shows how the impact of slavery changes her life. She is greatly influenced by her husband, who also advises her to stop educating Douglass. During this time, such actions were considered socially unacceptable and slaves were considered as property, nothing more. I found it interesting to learn about the mistress lifestyle form Douglass’s point of view. She was a kind, gentle person, who simply wanted to help others. However, after slavery, she was forced to change her ways and fit in with society. I thought it was shocking to learn that the mistress considered slavery as injurious as Frederick Douglass did. This shows how she really felt about the issue. The mistress was a unique individual during this time, who did not originally agree with slavery.