Preview

Summary of Television the Plug in Drug

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
284 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary of Television the Plug in Drug
Summary

Learning to read and write is an essay written by Mr. Frederick Douglass. The essay is about a young boy in the age of the slaves. Mr. Frederick Douglass was a slave that had begun to be taught how to read by his mistress, his mistress was directed by her husband to stop teaching him how to read. At this point it was very difficult for his mistress to treat him like chattel, but with given time her tender heart became stone, even though she was the one who had started teaching Mr. Frederick Douglass how to read nothing made her more angry then to see him with a newspaper. By the age of 12 the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily on him. It was at this age that he got his hands on a book called “The Columbian orator” which Mr. Douglass says “In this book, I met with one of Sheridan’s might speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over and over again with unabated interest.” Even as a young man he knew he wanted to be free more then anything in the world but he also knew that he had to learn to read and write before he could run away and be free.

Television: The Plug –In Drug is an essay written by Marie Winn. This essay is about the way that television changes families and in all actuality pushes families further apart. Ms. Winn talks about many situations where families are proven to be more interested to what is on the television screen then what is going on in their

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Television has become an extremely powerful influence over society and families since it’s introduction. Although this powerful influence that television has shown may not all be great. In the essay “Television: The Plug-In Drug,” a stance is taken by Marie Winn dictating that because of television, there is an ever growing problem with degenerating social skills individuals influenced by television (438-46). Even though Winn fails to consider that not every single individual influenced by television will be lead to degenerated social skills she does effectively displays her argument showing real-life anecdotes and studies to show the short-term and long-term effects of watching television. Even though Winn fails to consider that not every…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The short narration “Learning how to Read” by Frederick Douglass, tells a story about how Douglass being a young slave hunger to learn how to read. He mentions some of the things he need to do to learn how to read and write. Douglass being nothing but a young slave had an eager to get his education although his master had prohibited him to stop learning Douglass was very smart and brave. In this story he demonstrates to be very confident and very curious but about why his master did not want him to learn how to read and write. But Douglass creative mind urged him to get…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “Learning to Read” an excerpt from his autobiography, Frederick Douglass writes about the steps he took to learn to read and write. He shows all the steps in this excerpt. He was a slave in a house; he didn’t have any opportunity to go to school or get any educations but the mistress in the house helped him and taught him the alphabet. But then Douglass’s master asked his wife to stop teaching him. She listened to her husband and turns into inhuman, an evil woman, Douglass could not recognize her anymore. Douglass writes, “She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself” (36). She changed and she became more evil, more violent than the master. But then that didn’t make Douglass stop and stand hopelessly, he found another way to learn. He tricked a kid from his neighborhood and makes that kid teach him how to read and it went well. After that he continued to find more way to learn, and try improving his reading. He found a book named “The Columbian Orator”. He used every opportunity he got try to read this book and learn the words in there. That was the final step that he took to learn to read. Some years later, after he went to a shipyard and saw and board with words, letters, and he wanted to write. He tried to copy the letters from the board. He didn’t stop; he wanted to know more about writing. He found a boy and asked him to teach him write. The boy taught him to write all the alphabet letters. Finally, the last step he took to learn to write was that he took a book and copy all the words in there and try to remember what the words looked like. That was long and not so easy time for him to learn how to read and write but it didn’t stop him from his interest in reading and writing. Even though he didn’t have any opportunity as a slave to have education, he became strong and found any way that could help him to learn. He keep reading and writing until he…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas an American Slave” tells the story of the author a former slave named Frederick Douglass. After being born into slavery, he eventually escapes becoming a champion for freedom, a distinguished American diplomat, a well thought of orator, and an important writer. He accomplishes all these things despite being denied a formal education. Douglass was able to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to learn to read and write. This narrative not only illustrated the value of education but, also showed that with determination one can overcome any adversity and succeed.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Douglass learned to read by making friends with the little white boys. He would meet them in the street and turn them into teachers. Sometimes he would insist he was a better writer than the other boys, and they would challenge him, eventually teaching Douglass. Douglass would take Sophia’s child’s writing book and practice with it.…

    • 2414 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    I think that this reads best as an essay intended to inspire and to illustrate the importance of literacy to all. He writes in a matter-of-fact tone, simply telling the story of the lengths he went to become literate. As Frederick Douglass was a slave, he risked his very life for the ability to read and write. What he gained, however, was far better than the life he lead before his efforts paid off. It was far from easy; he even fought himself in his efforts sometimes, stating, “I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity.” Fortunately, he used his knowledge as a lifeboat of sorts, and he went on to become a powerful orator, journalist, and most importantly, a free…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Mrs. Auld began teaching Frederick how to read was Douglass’s first real foray into rebellion. It was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write and after Mr. Auld reprimanded Mrs. Auld, Douglass realized that “to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man” (Douglass 20). The seed of rebellion had been planted and he had discovered his path to freedom. He was proud of his new ability and tried to practice it as often as he could by challenging children to writing letters (Douglass 26). Douglass cultivated this new ability and treats it as the reason he was able to become free.…

    • 737 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass, is a story about Frederick Douglass’s life as a slave and how he goes on his quest to achieve freedom. Douglass was born into slavery and goes from master to master, and he finally sees the power of education when he reaches Baltimore to work for some new people. Here Douglass begins to learn how to read and write and he uses this to his advantage in hopes of becoming free one day. He manages to teach himself how to read in secret and then helps the other slaves become more literate. Eventually Douglass does manage to escape but he doesn’t stop there, he becomes an activist himself in hopes of ending all slavery one day. Through this book, Douglass reveals that learning is essential in order to achieve freedom, friends can help you to achieve your goals, and that slavery can have a very negative effect on a slave’s mind.…

    • 1379 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    He wrote about his personal experience to reach out to the audience so they can, through his words, see and feel what he went through as a slave. Douglass’s idea of protest was active and peaceful to a certain extent. Douglass made it a point to learn how to read shortly after his mistress was forbidden, by her husband, from continuing teaching Douglass how to read. Douglass. According to Douglass, his master said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell” (39). and Douglass did. He would do anything he could to continue his “education”. He went to children and tricked them into teaching him how to read and write. Also, he would sneak a book during any free time he had so that he can practice until he mastered it. With all of his reading, he realized that there was a life outside of being a slave and he was determined that he was not going to be a slave for his entire life, he was one day going to be free. Douglass explains how one day his life changes, “I have already intimidated that my condition was much worse, during that first six months of my stay at Mr. Convey’s, than in the last six. The circumstances leading to the change in Mr. Convey’s course…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass in his essay "Learning to Read and Write" explains all the difficulties he had to face when he learned to read and write in 1830s. Being a slave, it was against the law to learn to read and write, yet Douglass by risking his life, using all opportunities managed to learn reading and writing.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass’s sad tone helps the reader understand the effect that his literacy had on his thoughts and feelings toward slavery. Douglass describes how his mistress had given him “the inch” that he needed to learn to read and how he used bread to convince the little white children to teach him. He soon found the knowledge of how horrible his enslavers were. “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 120-121). This quote describes how he is depressed because he had learned the truth of his enslaves and wished that he would forget the truth. Although learning to read was a great ability he had acquired, it was a curse that led…

    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the excerpt “Learning to Read and Write”, Frederick Douglass talks about his experiences in slavery living in his masters house and his struggle to learn how to read and write. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. Some of his other writings include “The Heroic Slave”, “My Bondage and My Freedom”, and “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass”. In this excerpt, Frederick Douglass uses an empathic tone, imagery, certain verb choice, contrast, and metaphors to inform African Americans of how important it is to learn to read and write and also to inform a white American audience of the evils of slavery. I find Frederick Douglass to be relatively persuasive in his argument to his intended audiences.…

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the most noticeable themes in the narrative involves the association of literacy with freedom. The acquisition of one caused his desire for the other. In occasions, he had regrets about his acquired knowledge because he still didn’t have the ability to change his status as slave, which made him feel more miserable than ever. However, Douglass's ability to tell his story in his own words definitely contradicted the commonly held belief at the time that slaves were incapable of communicating through the standard conventions of American literature.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    While reading the Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, I received an inside look on Frederick Douglass’ life as a slave and how he was mistreated. While serving his time as a slave, Frederick took this opportunity to learn how to read and write. The concept of this essay is to see if learning to read and write impacted or changed Douglass life in a positive or negative way. I will be answering to this quote in chapter 6, pg. 20 “… she very kindly commenced me in learning to spell words of three or four letters…Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her… that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read.”…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, Douglass’ enlightenment of learning the alphabet gives him hope to building a stronger literacy for a better life than that of a slave. Then, he improves in his literacy and finds his enlightenment to then feel sad and tormented. For example, Douglass says, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free” (191). On one hand, Douglass…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays