M. NourbeSe Philips’ reading of “Discourse on the Logic of Language” greatly relates back to Douglass’ own relationship to language. The first part of the poem sets up a connection between language and anguish, which parallels a slave’s experiences: their usage of language is limited as they must censor themselves when speaking to their masters and even strangers. An example is when Captain Lloyd asks one of his slaves whether his master treats him well and the slave, without knowing that it is Lloyd who is asking, says no. Weeks later, the slave is sold to another state. There is no truth for slaves since truth could mean consequences like the one this slave faced. Language can also be used from the side of the owners as a means of oppression and exploitation, which Philips mentions in her poem. Douglass first realizes the power language has when Hugh Auld, his master after Captain Lloyd, tells his wife to stop teaching Douglass how to read. Auld discovered what his wife was doing and ordered her to stop, saying that teaching a slave to read would make him “unmanageable.” It was in this moment that Douglass understood the importance of language to freedom. As Philips said in the poem, owners would buy slaves from different ethnic groups so that they could not communicate and thus plan a rebellion. Douglass ended up utilizing his language to write down his story and help the abolitionist movement through both writing and speeches. Without language, he would never have been able to achieve freedom and work to rally against slavery.