Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and “Discourse on the Logic of Language” by M. NourbeSe Philip are two pieces of work that can be compared to one another. M. NourbeSe Phillip talks about language through the use of the mother and father tongue. She states that language has the ability to oppress and divide. With the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, slaves are divided from the whites because they do not have the capacity to read, write or speak as the whites do. Language is often misused as to what it can and cannot do. When Frederick Douglass is relocated to Baltimore, his new mistress, Mrs. Auld, starts to teach him how to read. Douglass begins to develop his basic reading skills. However, Mr. Auld finds out and berates Mrs. Auld and justifies, “if you give a n***** an inch, he will take an ell… Learning will spoil the best n***** in the world.” He further states “he (the slave) would at once become unmanageable and be of no value to his master”(Narrative of The Life of Fredrick Douglass 20). This shows that language therefore has the power to dehumanize and lead to anguish as Philip shows through her breakdown of the word.