Having been banished from receiving lessons from Sophia,  Frederick finds ways and means to learn more letters from children of his own age by bribing them with food…

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Once his ability to read improves he begins to discover books, some of which are very educational in terms of developing a fertile mind into the conditions of his being.

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This is both a blessing and a curse as he wrestles with the fact that the knowledge increases his desire and manifest right to be a free man, and yet offers no clue as to how to attain this creating an abject frustration.

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In this scene we get an audible suggestion of his domestic life as the cries of his third child, Charles Remond (1844 - 1920), can be heard briefly in the background.

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Also in this scene we get a perspective of the fundamental differences of being enslaved in the city of Baltimore to that of the enslaved on the plantation. The largest noticeable difference being that of nourishment, and the shame that would befall owners for not feeding their enslaved adequately, and treating them adversely.