Excerpt from narrative of the life of frederick douglass
by frederick douglass

very soon after i went to live with mr. and mrs. auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the a, b, c. after i had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. just at this point of my progress, mr. auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade mrs. auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. to use his own words, further, he said, "if you give a [slave] an inch, he will take an ell. a [slave] should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. learning would spoil the best [slave] in the world. now," said he, "if you teach that [slave] (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. it would forever unfit him to be a slave. he would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. as to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. it would make him discontented and unhappy."

how does the conversation in paragraph 1 between mr. and mrs. auld contribute to the central idea of this passage?

it represents the moment in which douglass understood the deep division between mr. and mrs. auld.

it represents the moment in which douglass appreciated the obstacles he faced to learning to read.

it represents the moment that douglass understood the value of education for his future.

it represents the moment in which douglass began to resent the people he was enslaved to.