Introduction
In their respective works, My Bondage and My Freedom and The House on Mango Street, Frederick Douglass and Sandra Cisneros explore the themes of inequality and injustice, as well as the importance of knowledge and work in redeeming human dignity and achieving justice. Douglass argues that knowledge is essential for individuals to understand their rights and fight for them, as it allows them to challenge their views of slavery and realize their entitlement to freedom and equality. He also emphasizes the value of labor in gaining human dignity and independence.
Similarly, Cisneros’ story explores the intersections of race and gender, highlighting how young girls are often silenced or ridiculed for expressing themselves or asserting their rights. Both texts emphasize the ability of knowledge and work to help people overcome systematic inequities and help bring about social change and equality of opportunity.
Frederick Douglass’s Autobiography
Douglass claims that knowledge is crucial to establishing human dignity and justice because it enables individuals to comprehend and defend their liberties. He describes how his master, Hugh Auld, forbade his wife from teaching Douglass to read because “if you teach that n***er how to read, there would be no keeping him (Frederick Douglass, n.d.). It would forever unfit him to be enslaved.”
Douglass, however, was determined to learn, and he secretly taught himself to read by befriending white children in the neighborhood and tricking them into giving him reading lessons. This allowed him to read newspapers and other publications that exposed him to new ideas and concepts, which challenged his views of slavery and made him realize that he was entitled to freedom and equality. He states, “From that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom” (Frederick Douglass, n.d.).
According to Douglass, work is also necessary for achieving human dignity and justice, as it enables individuals to care for themselves and their families while contributing to society. He describes how he was sent to work in a shipyard at age 15, where he learned various skills and trades that would prove useful throughout his life. He states, “I was now getting, as I have said, one dollar and fifty cents per day. I contracted for it; I earned it; it was paid to me; it was rightfully my own” (Frederick Douglass, n.d.).
This experience gave him a sense of independence and self-worth that he had never felt before, and it inspired him to continue working hard and pursuing his dreams of freedom and equality. As the lecture claims, “To get to the dream of equality, you have to dream of being humanized” (Instructional Video, n.d.).
Sandra Cisneros’s Novel
The novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros also addresses issues of inequality and injustice, particularly those related to race and gender. Esperanza, the novel’s protagonist, is a young Latina girl growing up in an impoverished Chicago neighborhood, enduring many forms of discrimination and injustice. For example, in the chapter “The Family of Little Feet,” Esperanza and her friends are ridiculed by white boys for wearing high-heeled shoes, which symbolize their budding femininity and desire for independence. The boys call them “stupid” and “dumb,” mocking them for trying to look like adults (Cisneros, 2013). This instance exemplifies how race and gender overlap to generate complicated kinds of discrimination, as well as how young girls are frequently hushed or demeaned for voicing themselves or affirming their rights.
Conclusion
To sum up, My Bondage and My Freedom by Douglass, and Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street highlight how education and labor are essential for attaining human dignity and fairness. Through their experiences, Frederick Douglass and Esperanza recognize that education and hard work are essential to overcoming systemic inequalities and realizing their full potential as human beings. Empowering individuals to understand their rights and contribute to society, knowledge, and the workforce can catalyze social change and promote greater equality.
References
Instructional Video: The Dream of Equality (Part II). (n.d.). Zoom. Web.
Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895. My Bondage and My Freedom. Part I. Life as a Slave. Part II. Life as a Freeman. (n.d.). DocSouth. Web.
Cisneros, S. (2013). The House on Mango Street. United States: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.