In the text “learning to read and write” the author demonstrated his need for learning to read. He was living the life of a slave and the wife of his master used to treat him in a humane way but since the master began to pressurize his wife, she became even worse than the master. She is the person who introduced Douglas, the author to reading and writing. Once his mistress became like this he felt that learning to read and write is his only way to get out of this life of a slave. As he was a slave reading and writing was a socially unacceptable behavior for slaves.