Frederick Douglass is a slave in which he lacked education and knowledge. Nevertheless, even though he was a slave that did not stop him from learning how to read. Slavery prohibits people from improving themselves through education. Ms. Auld taught him the basics such as the alphabet. His learning process was stopped because of Mr. Auld. “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell….Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave” (Douglass, 6). Douglass realized that knowledge=freedom. “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom” (Douglass, 6). “For this enlightenment, however, nothing is required but freedom, and indeed the least harmful of anything that could even be called freedom: namely, freedom to make public use of one’s reason in all matters” (Douglass, 5) Douglass did whatever he could in order to learn more. He even became friends with the local little white boys on the street so they could teach him. He took any opportunity possible to learn how to read and write.

With all this new knowledge, it was helping him get closer to freedom. Knowledge doesn’t lead to freedom straight away but it helps strengthen one’s thoughts. The more knowledge that Douglass gained the more he realized how injustice and corrupted slavery was and that he should be viewed as a man rather than a slave. Slaves were not even considered as humans. “The thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart” (Douglass, 7). The more knowledge he obtained, the more he realized how inhumane being a slave was. He says that learning how to read “had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out.”  This made him realize that the best way to get away from being a slave was to escape and become free. He eventually escaped and used the knowledge and experiences he gained to help others escape. This can be related back to the monster in Frankenstein. After the monster learns basic knowledge, he feels even more miserable about his situation because he knows what people were saying and what they thought about him.

Douglass story emphasizes that you can be enlightened if you are free to think and make decisions on your own and not be afraid of the decisions you make. Education isn’t an essential part of living however it does help with understanding experiences. Slaves were deprived from having an education because slaves weren’t considered to be humans. The essay written by Immanuel Kant was about enlightenment and what he thinks about it. He portrays enlightenment as using your own understanding and not being dependent on what most people think about something. Kant believes that in order for enlightenment to be accomplished there has to be freedom to make your own decisions and to think for yourself. It is essential to have the freedom to think and question every situation and knowledge.

There are many aspects that are necessary in making a thinking individual such as education, enlightenment and freedom. I believe that not having freedom doesn’t stop one from gaining knowledge or experience. It may restrict them from a lot of thinks but it doesn’t stop knowledge. Knowledge is gained through anything even common sense.