“As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontent which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish… Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever.” (Chapter VII, 254).

The passage above depicts Frederick Douglass’ awareness of the situation that he is currently in. If he did not learn to read and write, he would just be like any other slave, unknowledgeable of the nightmare that they were all forced into. Douglass wishes that he had not become educated of the cruelty of slavery. In this passage, one can understand the strong emotions that he felt through his is very descriptive language. Each sentence is a single thought that eventually leads to the point of realization that change is needed. Douglass saw that slavery was “the horrible pit… to no ladder upon which to get out.” He first saw that there was no remedy to slavery. However, he soon realizes that: “freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever.” This line stands out because it is a critical moment of realization that the life he was living was inhumane. Many slaves at this time were not aware of their current situation. They were living a life that was imposed onto them, by people who thought themselves superior just because of the color of their skin, not questioning if “Was this the life that I am actually destined to live?” A commonly heard saying is “knowledge itself is power.” Douglass being able to read and write allowed him to use his knowledge and become a national leader of the abolitionist movement in America.
After reading this passage, a question that is raised is: “Do only the educated slaves realize that this was not the right way of life?” Douglass would not have been aware if he was not literate and read “The Columbia Orator,” learning of Sheridan’s denunciation of slavery and it being a violation of human rights.