Learning to read

It is amazing to me that Douglass learned how to read and write basically on his own, he had no regular teacher, but his mistress taught him some basic thing; for the most part he learned a lot of it on his own. This is a very inspiring story. He was a brave man to learn how to read and write because back then white people did not want the black people to learn how read or write. I also think it is very courageous of his mistress to teach him some of the basic things. It is crazy how we so often take knowing how to read and write for granted. We usually dislike doing those two things but to Douglass it was like a present when he was able to read and write and that is a beautiful thing. He was sneaky about it too because he was not allowed to read the newspaper, he would become friends with all the little white kids just so he could get his hands on some books and learn a little more. He would usually read at night just so know would find out. Readers can really sense his devotion to wanting to learn more. He was so excited when he got his hands on a new book. He was so into the books that he would read that he felt what the characters felt. It is amazing to me how much we take the small things for granted in life.