Literacy plays an important role in helping Douglass achieve his freedom. Learning to read and write enlightened his mind about the injustice of slavery; it kindled in his heart a desire for freedom. Douglass's skills proved instrumental in his escape attempts and later in his mission as an anti-slavery spokesperson. Douglass was motivated to learn to read by hearing his master condemn the education of slaves. Mr. Auld said an education would “spoil” him and “render him forever incapable of being a slave” (2054). He believed that the ability to read made a slave “unmanageable” and “discontented” (2054). Douglass discovered that “the power of the white man to enslave the black man” (2054) lay in his literacy and education. As long as slaves remain ignorant, they will resign themselves to their fate. However, if slaves were educated, they would understand that they are as fully human as white men and would realize the injustice of their treatment. Education is like a forbidden fruit for the slave; this is why slave owners guard themselves from this knowledge of good and evil. Nevertheless, D...