He himself explains my thoughts exactly when he says, "Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell" (page 49). Douglass realized the impossibility of having a good life while he was a slave, and the fist step towards escaping was learning how to read and write, so that he could be successful when he was finally able to leave. Of course, he had to take advantage of certain opportunities, like the "little white boys whom [he] met on the street" (page 49). In fact, these boys became such an important tool for Douglass, that when he left Master Hugh's home, "it was those little Baltimore boys that [he] felt the strongest attachment [to]" (page 59). Furthermore, Douglass portrays his brilliance and ingenuity by competing against the boys while he was still in Baltimore, something done to learn from the boys through the contests: "After that, when I met with any boy who I knew could write, I would tell him I could write as well as he... In this way I got a good many lessons in writing which is quite possible I should never have gotten in any other way" (page 53).
Ell: a unit of measurement that is approximately
the length of an arm from the elbow.
The resiliency of Frederick Douglass is what really astounded me. The fact that he is so focused on learning how to read and write, and so perseverant on being successful is astonishing, considering his past and how easily he could have convinced himself into remaining uneducated because it was "wrong."
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