ABSTRACT
However, upon closer examination of the narrative, literacy proves to have a much more complex role in the life of Frederick Douglass. While it is certainly an important factor in awakening Douglass’s consciousness and empowering him, it is not the sole agent which allows him to seize his freedom. How, then, does reading affect his consciousness? And how does it allow him to challenge structures of domination? In what way do reading and literacy constitute a destabilization of Douglass’s life as well as of the established power structures?
