The voice of Philip captures us, which helps us submerge ourselves into the spoken words that describe not only her life but Douglass’ as well. Though the poem does not bluntly state the punishments and consequences that she and possibly Douglass had to go through, oppression was definitely shown.
“English is my mother tongue, a mother tongue is not a foreign language in which she slowly plays with the word until it transitions to anguish. Foreign anguish.
English is my father tongue, father tongue is a foreign language therefore English is a foreign language not a mother tongue.” Here she describes how she is oppressed due to not being able to speak her own language but something foreign and not familiar to her. The way she describes how a mother tongue is not a foreign language and a father tongue is a foreign language is similar to how a women would take up their spouse’s last name. When a woman takes up her spouse’s last name, she is losing her identity which is what Philip feel when she has to give up the language that she grew up with to speak a language that is more universal – English. While Philip had the luxury to learn English, Douglass did not. Yes, Sophia taught Douglass the alphabet and words, but this soon stops as Hugh finds out and demands Sophia to stop. Douglass was unable to fully learn the language oppressing him from the ability to communicate to the outside world. As Philip continue on with the poem, she reads “every slave caught speaking their own language will be severely punished.” For both Philip and Douglass, they were unable to make decisions on what they want or what made them comfortable whether it is their mother tongue or a new language allowing them to voice their opinions. This led to a foreign language to becoming a foreign anguish.