Preview

Jonathan Kozol The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
915 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Jonathan Kozol The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society
Knowledge is an effective factor in which human society relies on. Throughout history, those who were knowledgeable were well-respected, honored and revered. Author Jonathan Kozol writes his essay, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” to project the importance of knowledge and to explain that without it, one can suffer disastrous repercussions. He highlights real-life examples of how people suffer as a result of chronic illiteracy, and his entire essay is an advocacy for knowledge and literacy. Other authors such as Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright would use their personal experiences in completely different settings to highlight the power of knowledge. Douglass, a man born into slavery, and Wright, a man living through racial injustice, would present arguments in support of knowledge because it brings freedom and independence. However, they also believe that knowledge is just as much as a curse as it is a blessing. Kozol does not have much in common with the other authors, and has not gone through the same experiences that would lead him to believe that knowledge can also be seen as a curse. Douglass and Wright begin to educate Kozol because they have additional information about the power of knowledge that Kozol does not. This additional information will portray how the power of knowledge can also be seen as a curse through their own personal experiences. The importance of obtaining knowledge is that it grants a sense of realization for freedom. Those who are not knowledgeable are socially enslaved; limiting their human rights. This form of freedom is evident in two different time periods. Frederick Douglass, a former slave in 1800’s, read “The Columbian Orator” which later sparks a flame within him. In the essay the author states: “The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master...resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave” (145). The slave has a significant effect upon Douglass as he
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Why Literacy Is Important Essay
    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why Literacy Is Important Essay

    Frederick Douglass, a black slave during the 1800’s, eventually became free and aided in the abolitionist movement. He could not read for some time. However, one of his slave masters’ wife taught him how to read. This made Frederick Douglass realize that the slaves who were uneducated did not know the predicament they were in and the opportunities that they had available to them. By being literate, Douglass saw the world differently and yearned to escape the shackles of slavery for a free life up North. By becoming cognizant of the importance of literacy, Douglass left slavery and became a leader in the abolitionist movement to help others escape…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Frederick Douglass Learning To Read And Write
    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Frederick Douglass Learning To Read And Write

    In the excerpt “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass uses an empathic tone, elevated diction, imagery, and telling details to convince a white American audience from the 1850s of the humanity and intelligence of enslaved Africans and the evils of slavery.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary Learning to Read by Douglass
    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Summary Learning to Read by Douglass

    In “Learning to Read” an excerpt from his autobiography, Frederick Douglass writes about the steps he took to learn to read and write. He shows all the steps in this excerpt. He was a slave in a house; he didn’t have any opportunity to go to school or get any educations but the mistress in the house helped him and taught him the alphabet. But then Douglass’s master asked his wife to stop teaching him. She listened to her husband and turns into inhuman, an evil woman, Douglass could not recognize her anymore. Douglass writes, “She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself” (36). She changed and she became more evil, more violent than the master. But then that didn’t make Douglass stop and stand hopelessly, he found another way to learn. He tricked a kid from his neighborhood and makes that kid teach him how to read and it went well. After that he continued to find more way to learn, and try improving his reading. He found a book named “The Columbian Orator”. He used every opportunity he got try to read this book and learn the words in there. That was the final step that he took to learn to read. Some years later, after he went to a shipyard and saw and board with words, letters, and he wanted to write. He tried to copy the letters from the board. He didn’t stop; he wanted to know more about writing. He found a boy and asked him to teach him write. The boy taught him to write all the alphabet letters. Finally, the last step he took to learn to write was that he took a book and copy all the words in there and try to remember what the words looked like. That was long and not so easy time for him to learn how to read and write but it didn’t stop him from his interest in reading and writing. Even though he didn’t have any opportunity as a slave to have education, he became strong and found any way that could help him to learn. He keep reading and writing until he…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass
    • 531 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass

    In “Narration, Authentication and Authorial Control in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of 1845” by Robert B. Stepto argues that Douglass’ narrative is successful because of his intellectual independence. Stepto explains how impressive it is for an uneducated slave to get out of slavery and in…

    • 531 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Value of Education and a Lesson in Determi9Nation in "The Narrative of Frederick Douglass an American Slave"
    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Value of Education and a Lesson in Determi9Nation in "The Narrative of Frederick Douglass an American Slave"

    “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas an American Slave” tells the story of the author a former slave named Frederick Douglass. After being born into slavery, he eventually escapes becoming a champion for freedom, a distinguished American diplomat, a well thought of orator, and an important writer. He accomplishes all these things despite being denied a formal education. Douglass was able to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to learn to read and write. This narrative not only illustrated the value of education but, also showed that with determination one can overcome any adversity and succeed.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass In Learning To Read And Write Summary
    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Frederick Douglass In Learning To Read And Write Summary

    While knowledge can open many doors for success, it can also put a lock on various doors for people who don’t have an opportunity to practice it. “Learning to Read and Write,” an essay written by a former slave, Frederick Douglass, explains how he gains knowledge and the effect it has on him. A former student of the EOF Program, Michael Scott, believed that attaining knowledge for Douglass was more a curse rather than an accomplishment and there were no alternatives to his circumstances. However, Michael Scott is not exactly correct for the reason that Douglass did have alternatives. For Frederick Douglass, learning to read and write is indeed more of a curse rather than blessing apart from there being other alternatives to his dark conditions. Becoming knowledgeable puts Frederick Douglass’s safety at risk; it led to suicidal thoughts from Douglass; and it makes him aware of the rights every human being should have, but no way of attaining it.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did Frederick Douglass Become An Abolitionist?
    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Did Frederick Douglass Become An Abolitionist?

    To be an educated black or colored man was rare in the 1800’s, so rare it could cost a black man his life. For Douglass to become an abolitionist was truly amazing seeing that the odds were not in his favor. Douglass put his life in danger many times and face many obstacles to become the educated man he was. With the help of Abraham Lincoln, Douglass helped in the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation to free and abolish slavery in all America. In the autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass, he shows that education incarcerates him by limiting him to learn more, keeping quiet about what he knows, and that his knowledge could have devastating consequences.…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society Kozol Analysis
    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society Kozol Analysis

    In the story of “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” Jonathan Kozol reasons the negative effects of being illiterate. American illiterates are being shut down by society in a world where becoming a successful that seems uncertain for illiterates. Kozol shows to the reader the many risks that an illiterate American has to face on a daily basis and the dangers that results from it. “They cannot read traffic signs and, while they often learn to recognize and to decipher symbols, they cannot mange street names which they haven’t seen before” (256). This confirms how American illiterates are in danger of getting lost or not knowing how to get back home. They need…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis
    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page

    Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

    In the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass’s sad tone helps the reader understand the effect that his literacy had on his thoughts and feelings toward slavery. Douglass describes how his mistress had given him “the inch” that he needed to learn to read and how he used bread to convince the little white children to teach him. He soon found the knowledge of how horrible his enslavers were. “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 120-121). This quote describes how he is depressed because he had learned the truth of his enslaves and wished that he would forget the truth. Although learning to read was a great ability he had acquired, it was a curse that led…

    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frederick Douglass: Portraying Slaveholders
    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Frederick Douglass: Portraying Slaveholders

    Learning and knowledge make all the difference in the world, as Frederick Douglass proves by changing himself from another man's slave to a widely respected writer. A person is not necessarily what others label him; the self is completely independent, and through learning can move proverbial mountains. The main focus of this essay is on the lives of the American Slaves, and their treatment by their masters. The brutality brought upon the slaves by their holders was cruel, and almost sadistic. These examples will cite how the nature of Douglass's thoughts and the level of his understanding changed, and his method of proving the evilness of slavery went from visual descriptions of brutality to more philosophical arguments about its wrongness.<br><br>Since Douglass was very much an educated man by the time he wrote the Narrative, it is as hard for him to describe his emotions and thoughts when he was completely devoid of knowledge as it is for a blind and deaf man to describe what he thought and felt before he learned to communicate with the outside world. Culture, society, and common beliefs are our bridge to communication with one another. Douglass, then, could never really explain all of what and how he felt about himself in his earlier slave days in such a way that those who read his autobiography would ever understand completely.<br><br>Our first glimpse of Douglass is as a small boy, without a birthday, father, or any sort of identity. "I have no accurate knowledge of my age … A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood." (p. 39) Forced to eat his meals of mush out of a trough, wearing nothing but a long, coarsely-woven shirt, and being kept in complete mental darkness, Douglass was completely dehumanized even before he experienced the horrible violence of the slaveholders towards their slaves. His proof of the evil of slavery, a main theme in the Narrative, is mostly through visual descriptions of the violence…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Reading Response
    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Reading Response

    Jonathan Kozol’s essay on The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society (1985) claims that based on the beliefs of Socrates and James Madison, illiteracy is a moral dilemma. Kozol supports this claim by speculating what a number of tragic outcomes could be as a result of illiteracy. His purpose is to show how a person’s daily life is affected negatively by being illiterate in order to prove that illiteracy in a broad sense is a moral dilemma. Kozol’s intended audience in writing this essay would be the public.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing Malcolm X And Frederick Douglass
    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Comparing Malcolm X And Frederick Douglass

    In the narrative of Douglass, the author focused on the situations surrounding his childhood life such as the abolitionists who wished to banish the systems of slavery and the Catholic emancipation. During the chances that Douglass was able to read, he read "The Columbian Orator" which contained one of Sheridan's speeches that covered the topic of Catholic emancipation (Douglass, p.147). Sheridan's speech created the base of Douglass's ideas on the thought of slavery and opened the mind to a realization to the current conditions he was experiencing. Douglass had gained a bitter realization towards the conscience of the slaveholders and felt jealousy towards his fellow-slaves' ignorance. Douglass stated: " As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing," (Douglass, p.148). He described slaveholders as a band of successful robbers who had uprooted Africans from their home and country and forced them to work underneath their rule (Douglass, p.148). With the sudden realization ongoing, Douglass felt suicidal yet clung onto the string of hope. Although showing the harsh reality to Douglass, Sheridan's speech created a better understanding of the conditions around him. Unlike Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X focused on various topics regarding…

    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The human cost of an illiterate society: Jonathan Kozol
    • 719 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The human cost of an illiterate society: Jonathan Kozol

    As I type this essay I am using one form of communication available to those of us who are literate. Sadly not all of us have the ability to do what most if not all of us who are lucky to be literate, take for granted. One such article, "The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society?" elaborates on the issue of illiteracy, which is utterly apparent in America. This essay is written using exemplification to show that knowledge is indeed power and those who are illiterate are almost powerless in today's society.…

    • 719 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society
    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

    The political aspect of not being able to read would be voting for someone because of the way they look and the commercials on television. Without being able to research and read about the candidates you are basically taking someone’s word for the truth. Envision the panic or fear of being lost traveling somewhere unfamiliar and not being able to read a map or street directions telling which way to go. The damaging effects of illiteracy not only cripple you financially but emotionally. “Even the loss of home and…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society
    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

    In “The Human cost of an illiterate society,” Jonathan Kozol attempts to convince his reader that illiteracy is extremely harmful to a society, and that it is the ultimate destruction of a human being’s life. He explains with great detail how being ignorant (unknown) at something so universal like being able to read the directions on a medicine label, can lead to a lifetime of hardship and long term agony. Kozol develops his reasoning by contributing meaningful but real world examples on how being illiterate is dangerous and fatal. For example He uses not being able to explain where you are if something fatal was to happen, and not being able to understand the dangers of a cigarettes label with a surgeons warning on it. After giving a plenty load of examples, he then brings the discussion back to his central argument on how being illiterate can be costly. When a person does not understand what they have wrongfully done it can be difficult to prosecute or judge that person. If he is not able to read then that person might not be aware that giving a child too much aspirin could result in overdose which can ultimately lead to death. The question that still remains is should that person be held accountable. According to today’s society the answer is still unknown but to protect the people of this society from that illiterate person, the answer is yes that person must be limited. What this ultimately means is that, he must be kept from society so that he won’t cause harm for his on ignorant habits. He will have to be watched, fed, and kept in an environment where he will always be stable. This top of living can cost a lot of money and this is the financial burden that cost a society so much money. In a way this is unfair…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics