Evan Nierman – Frederick Douglass

Mr. Fundementals

“Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters”(250).  The alphabet is the foundation, the bricks, of language. Douglass writes in a style that embraces the fundamentals of the language. His words are short, clear and concise. His syntax and diction follow a repetition. This approach shapes the narrative, adding a sense of authorship to his words. To give an example of his repetitive language, Douglass uses words like how to, seldom, slave, well, read, write, and mentions God through the whole of the text.  The word seldom, which is not a common word in respect to the other words of repetition, is extant, written in the work twenty times. The paradox of such word choice is that seldom is a synonym for rare(ly); infrequent(ly); on only a few occasions, yet the word is frequent throughout the text. Does this finesse manipulation of ironic wordplay mean anything? 

Douglass continues, stating, “Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further” (250) and what Douglass recites Mr. Auld uttering, here, reveals the sheer power of language. The overarching theme of the narrative. The explanation of what Mr. Auld fears. He quotes Mr. Auld,    “he said ‘If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master–to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now”’(250). Although many words in this quotation do not need decoding, there are a few to take close note of. Accounting to hearing and comprehending what an ell is, the initial logistics point to the letter in the English alphabet. However, after searching the definition, in context to Mr. Auld’s words, an ell is describing a measure of length, typically about forty-five inches or so. Mr. Auld is describing, figuratively, how an inch of learning can grow rampant. How learning the alphabet and putting letters into small words opens the door to new intellectual discoveries. 

Spoil is written in italics. Predominantly, spoil is a synonym for ruin, or perish. But spoil, like many other words in the English language, has more than one meaning.  Contradictory to the first interpretation, spoil can also be to treat someone very or too well, especially by being extremely generous. It can also be something valuable or desirable gained through special effort or opportunism.  Thus, learning to read can very well spoil a slave by directing him toward freedom. A special opportunity for a man of color at the time. Douglass continues to quote Auld’s rant, “said he, ‘if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.’ These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought”(250). Without learning the written word, Fredrick Douglass would be unable to present the language of Mr. Auld. He would not be able to communicate his experiences on such an extensive level, if at all.  Without reading, Douglass may even be unable to decipher Mr. Auld’s words properly. 

Allow that to sink in. Reading is learning and writing is documenting. Douglass, now conscious of his capability, exposes the colloquial language of the American citizen of the south. He does not hold back from unmasking the barbaric diction of, who he must address at the time as, his master. According to Frederick’s recollection of the situation, he says, “It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty–to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom”(250-1). The pathway from slavery to freedom is through the written word.