How does learning to read and write change Douglas, as he outlines in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave?

Learning to read and write changes the entire course of 's life. After Mrs. Auld stops
teaching him the basics of reading, Douglass makes unknowing teachers out of little white boys
he encounters in the streets. For some bread, the boys are quite willing to share their
knowledge with Douglass. As his understanding of words grows, so does his understanding of the
world around him.

In chapter 7, Douglass explains that the more he reads, the
more he detests those who have enslaved him. Reading opens his mind to evaluate the conditions
of slavery, and it simultaneously tortures his soul and liberates him. He says that reading
"opened [his] eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out." He
understands increasingly well the innate injustice in the plight of slaves but feels powerless
to change his situation.

He begins to hear a new word: abolition.
It...