In “Learning to Read and Write,” by Frederick Douglass and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” by Gloria Anzaldúa, both authors share their journeys to literacy with their audience. In the authors journeys, their roads are rough and clogged with obstacles. These obstacles, in the end, serve a significant role in shaping the authors views on the benefits and limitations of literacy. Both Douglass and Anzaldúa write to appeal for a change. Douglass asks for the change of slaves being permitted to learn while Anzaldúa asks for the change of what falls into the category of “literacy.” In Fredrick Douglass’ essay “Learning to Read and Write” and in Gloria Anzaldúa’s essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” the authors are similar in the obstacles faced to their gaining of literacy, while the authors call each other into question in their views of the individual versus collective tendencies of literacy. In their essays, Douglass and Anzaldúa are faced with the challenge of others obstructing their journey towards literacy. Anzaldúa tells of her experience in school where speaking her native tongue results in both physical and emotional punishment: “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess – that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” (Anzaldúa 31). This punishment is unfair as Anzaldúa was a child who is simply speaking to her friends in a way that is natural to her. The discrimination continues on into the class room as Anzaldúa’s teacher tells her “”If you want to be American, speak ‘American.’ If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong”” (Anzaldúa 31). This treatment is what made Anzaldúa so weary of speaking her native tongue as a child, and is what fueled her fight for a redefining of literacy as an adult. Similarly, Douglass is hindered in his journey towards literacy by his master and mistress: “My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with [her husband], not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else” (Douglass 133). The taste of literacy that Douglass’ mistress gives him is what makes him yearn so eagerly to further his education. Nothing hinders Douglass’ desire of literacy, even the anger of his mistress as: “Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper (Douglass 134). Although Douglass’ deterrent from literacy threatens his livelihood, he doesn’t let it stop him from pursuing what he most desires.