MacKethan describes Douglass’s narrative within the context of spiritual autobiographies, suggesting that his feeling that he was “chosen” resonates theologically, and forms an association between spirituality and literacy. Commenting about Douglass’s observation that he was selected from a group in which “There were those younger, those older, and those of the same age,” McKethan writes “What he was chosen for is made quite clear in Chapters Six and Seven, which form the center of the Narrative and deal exclusively with Douglass’s personal discovery of the power of words” (59).