Fredrick Douglas

            Society can be viewed from many different perspectives. During the 1800's, two people could live under the very same constitution but have completely different outlooks on how effectively the government worked. In "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass", this former slave describes his experience growing up as a Negro in America. He portrays what life was like as a piece of property and tells his own interpretation of freedom. His point of view of freedom clearly differs from what the founding fathers thought it to be. Since Frederick was deprived of so much as a child, his picture of freedom is much more elemental and primitive to that of a wealthy white man. Due to his poor misfortune, Frederick looks at life from a different angle than the average man. In this story, Frederick realizes how he is unique from other people and uses this knowledge to fight for his own personal freedom.
             Frederick knew he was a slave, but he did not always understand his ill-fated destiny and how to get himself out of that trap. In the story, an epiphany is used when he realizes who he is. An epiphany is an awakening or a moment of truth, and that is exactly what Frederick experiences. Frederick quotes, "From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I least expected it Though conscience of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read." This is one of the many statements relative to his own awareness. He comes upon the distinct realization that he must learn how to read and write in order to receive other freedoms. He knows that being literate will bring him closer to his dream. He wants the shackles of slavery literally and metaphorically removed from him, but he must learn how to read first. .
             In addition to that quote, there are many other times in the storyline of his life when he comes upon this awareness.