Douglass describes knowledge as "valuable bread" and the Liberator, an anti-slavery paper, as his "meat and drink." How does literacy sustain him?

Douglass, in
his memoir, tells the story of his new mistress, Mrs. Auld, unaccustomed to slaves, starting to
teach him to read as a child. She is quickly stopped by her husband and soon becomes an arrogant
slave owner, but she plants a seed inside of Douglass that continues to grow. He becomes
determined to learn to read, and when he can no longer obtain that knowledge at home, seeks it
from white boys on the streets of Baltimore as he is running his errands. He literally trades
them the bread he can bring with him from home for the more "valuable bread" of
knowledge. Reading is important to him because it opens up worlds normally closed to a slave.
From an early age, though oppressed by the idea of forever being a slave, he has a drive towards
freedomand learning to read is part of that drive.

After he does escape, his
reading skills allow him to peruse the abolitionist newspaper The
Liberator. He says the paper set his soul on fire. From the paper, he also learned
the principles of abolition and became a true believer in the cause. Reading, therefore, offered
him a counter-narrative to the propaganda of the slave owner, which was meant to keep the slaves
in their places. Reading, for Douglass, became a form of power.