The Oppression Of Frederick Douglas's 'The Library Card'

Reading opens doors to many possibilities. It allows the reader to piece together and gain understanding of their reality by applying it to thousands of years of vastly divergent topics. “ Learning to Read and Write,” by Frederick Douglass analyses how literature’s many branches of information are not always beneficial. It is not a surprise that reading provides knowledge, but it can also bring information the reader might find undesirable because it may potentially conflict with the his convictions. As a result , reading causes the reader to feel uncomfortable as he indulges in learning about polemically gruesome topics . Similarly, Richard Wright’s supports Douglas’s argument in “The Library Card”, where he introduces an African American …show more content…
Wright’s use of an uneducated African-American plays a pivotal role in demonstrating literature’s strength because as an African-American with second class citizen, he had become accustomed to his surroundings. Wright discusses his character lack of access to the library to highlight the suppression of information during the time. Effectively this suppression is undoubtedly part of an arbitrary social contract where second class citizens believe without questioning. The introduction of readings effectively shattered these barriers by introducing the history that explained how the hegemons in the United States. Wright states “ I could not conquer my sense of guilt , my feeling that the white men around me knew that I was changing, that I had begun to regard them differently “ (Wright,335). Without a doubt, an African-American reading a book clearly contrasted the racial roles of the time. Wright’s use of this quote serves to highlight how severe oppression and sheer ignorance played a role in shaping how millions behaved. The reader's anger is a result of the realization of how flawed the social norms in his environment were. Evidently, he was a tourist in his own environment because he was sold a representation of his environment that was immediately contradicted by the lessons of literature.Therefore, he does envision the socially constructed segregationist …show more content…
Literature has the ability to preserve ideas over millenniums. Consequently, the accumulation of ideas offers many perspectives that are often unheard of. Wright describes this when he states “ it was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what i read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different “ ( Wright, 334). The spin brought by the readings served as a tool to spot the environment’s flaws. As Wright states, it is the introduction of the idea that truly matters over its veracity. Furthermore, because the text plants the idea , it leads the reader to start questioning his surroundings in an attempt to verify what he read. Correspondingly, Wright’s character faces this dilemma as he encounters his normal surroundings after being exposed to unconventional ideas. Therefore, Wright’s character is a product of a society that suppresses information, which effectively explains his surprise as he discovers the racial implications that operate in his environment. Douglas fortifies Wright’s idea by demonstrating the change literature has on its readers. Similar to Wright, new ideas have multiple effects on its readers because as they knowledge they became aware of the imperfections they must live with. Douglas states “ it opened my eyes to a horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out “ ( Douglass ,148). The