The fact that all his teachers did not want him to learn to read and write showed him that there was something valuable in acquiring those two skills. This definitive realization at an early stage in his life lit the spark that launched him in search of freedom. Although he had yet to physically escape, it was his initial slight contact with the moving force that gave him the strength to make it happen. "The very determined manner in which he spoke, and endeavored to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instructions, served to convince me that he was deeply aware of the truths he was uttering." (p. 13). Later, Douglass will present his self-education as the main means through which he managed to free himself and, consequently, as his greatest tool to fight for the freedom of all.