The main strategies in which Frederick Douglass learned to read and write were very clever for a boy at his age. In reference to reading, he began having lessons with his Mistress, but soon afterwards she stopped helping him and gave in to society's rules. So Douglass became friends with a couple of white boys his age that knew how to read. Whenever he was running an errand, he would finish it quickly and fit in a lesson. In reference to writing, Douglass started out by learning the letters that workers at the shipyard wrote on pieces of wood, but there were only a couple of letters there. So he then fixated himself on Master Thomas' workbooks, which were set aside when he had finished with them. Whenever the Mistress would leave, Douglass would use the empty spaces in the workbooks for practice.
Frederick Douglass decided that he wanted to learn to read and write truly because he had an appetite for learning. Being a slave, he was deprived of so many things as a young boy. Once he got an ounce of literature in him, he couldn't resist it. In addition, literature taught him about slavery and he also felt that he wanted to be like other boys his age, the ones that weren't slaves.
Mr. Auld wanted to prevent Douglass from becoming literate because he knew that if Douglass read the current newspapers and discovered information on slavery, he would realise the crimes against humanity that were being committed. Knowledge comes from books, and the only way to keep slaves on a lower level was to deprive them of the one thing that could change their situation.
Even though Douglass was extremely glad to be literate, he learned about the hardships on slaves that last for their entire lives. As a slave, Douglass was trapped in a bubble, only knowing what he saw. But by reading, he was able to see the world, and realise that he was stuck. This only depressed him further, to know that there was no fix to his situation. How can you have a life when you know what is planned for you in your entire future?
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