Why does Douglass's first teacher abandon his lessons? Why does reading become a curse rather than a blessing to him?

In his memoir
Narrative of the Life of , the author describes his experiences within the
institution of slavery. One of his owners, Mrs. Auld, begins teaching Douglass the alphabet, and
he learns how to read. However, his first teacher abandons his lessons because her husband, Mr.
Auld, reprimands her for doing so.

Mr. Auld forbids Mrs. Auld from continuing
to teach Douglass how to read because he believes it is unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach
a slave to read (Douglass 29). Mr. Aulds view held that a literate slave would become too
conscious about the institution of slavery and would therefore lose his sense of obedience to
his masters.

Despite the lack of morality in Mr. Aulds beliefs, he was not
wrong. Reading opened up a whole new perspective for Douglass, who gained consciousness about
slavery and learned about the movement for abolition. He writes:

I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It
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. In moments of agony, I envied my
fellow-slaves for their stupidity.

While reading is
usually a way to liberate a person from ignorance, in the case of a slave like Douglass, it only
made him realized how terribly oppressed he was.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
1845. https://ibiblio.org/ebooks/Douglass/Narrative/Douglass_Narrative.pdf

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