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The autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley tells a wonderful story of a boy who grew up to be a legendary hero. Malcolm Xs character continuously develops throughout the entire novel, allowing the reader to be engaged in his story. The beginning of the text begins with the story of the past, when his mother was pregnant, and instantly the author brings in violence that include the Ku Klux Klan and the description of fear is already being portrayed. Chapter one is titled "nightmare "in this chapter not only does the reader already acknowledge struggle but there is also a background of his father. Over the course of chapter you see Malcolm Xs character develop mostly because his entire perspective constantly changes due to being around …show more content…
The purpose is to further develop the character of Malcolm and the ethos, pathos, and logos expressed within the novel. The style and content all contributes to the power and beauty of the text. His narrative techniques include foreshadowing, for example in a previous chapter you see Malcolm 's relationship with his younger brother Reginald, really begin to grow and this central idea express his feelings, he seems to think very highly of Reginald and what he does. He states that he is mature for his young age, and comes across as a very intelligent put together person. Malcolm is what seems to be the reason why his brother is the way he expresses himself to be because he is a good Rolodex towards him and clearly plays a big role in his life. Malcolm 's character really develops as a leader. In chapter nine, he practically knows he will be assassinated, he really expects to make history and seems to strive to understand, Malcolm throughout the entire book seeks to know the meaning of why we as human beings are labeled and separated. Merely because we do not all look alike, and in this chapter, the author tells the story of “true knowledge” and this is where the dialogue really makes the chapter an incredible and shocking read. He speaks of the “black man, …show more content…
The author is clear with the content and has no fear of telling the truth just as Malcolm X expressed himself. Malcolm 's character is strong and full of expression good and bad, Malcolm uses every inch of his time to become the exact person he wishes to be and strives to have the knowledge of whatever may be unknown. Malcolm had a love for his heritage history and what is also expressed is that African Americans are not always seen as the problem. There are many points in the book where it speaks of a white man being the “devil” which is a strong word used for the people who are generally always saying that African Americans are the problem and the ones to blame. The authors purpose is to educate the readers is many different ways and does it through every chapter in various amounts of writing, which describes the beauty and content incredibly
Malcolm X’s writing changes throughout the beginning chapters. The structure, style, and content change as Malcolm grows, also demonstrating his purpose with his writing. From chapters 1-4 he’s growing up as a child, the writing is formal and shows his struggles early on. From chapters 5-9, he adapts to New York society, and becomes a hustler after quitting his menial job as a shoe shiner and his writing is easily reflecting his usage of narcotics and slang.From chapters 10-11 Malcolm is taken into prison, slowly transforming his life and beliefs which begins to change himself and his writing. The style, structure, and content of Malcolm’s writing complement each other which helps bring the beauty out of the text. Malcolm utilizes his writing to express racial tensions, racial identity, and systemic oppression throughout the book.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is about a man who changed the history of America. Malcolm (Little) X preached what he believed about racism, discrimination, and segregation. He went through many changes in his fight for equality. The three transformations that really changed the way Malcolm thought and preached where his transformation in prison, his transformation into the Islamic religion (following Elijah Muhammad), and the biggest transformation of all, his pilgrimage to Mecca. In all of Malcolm actions, teachings and transformations we learn different points of view and we get a good look at different aspects of events. The life of Malcolm (Little) X as told in his autobiography should be read by all.
Of the people whose names are mentioned in history, some men like Thomas Edison are praised for their genius minds, while others such as Adolf Hitler are criticized for leaving a depressing legacy behind. While it is relative easy to notice the type of legacies these two men left, legacies of other men are often vague and they seem to be imbedded in gray shadows. This is how many people view the life of Malcolm X. Malcolm X during his lifetime had influenced many African Americans to step up for their rights against the injustices by the American government. One on hand, he has been criticized for his hard stances that resemble extremism, while on the other hand he has been praised him for his effort in raising the status for African Americans. The extremes in viewing his life from the modern day perspective have often come from reading his climatic speech The Ballot or the Bullet that he gave in many cities across America in 1964. When he was with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X favored Blacks to be separated from the Whites, and during this time he strongly opposed White Supremacy. This also seems quite prevalent in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. However, one events during the last year of his life reveal that he wanted the Blacks and the Whites to coexist as peaceful Americans.
He talks about the extent of brainwashing the Black community was under at the time. He wants to begin addressing the issue with African Americans in releasing themselves from the mindset that they are inferior in comparison to what he calls the “White man”. Malcolm X stresses the importance of the Black community of having to understand that their success isn’t dictated by another race rather than their own selves. He wants his race to change their mindsets as desegregation laws are taking place, because if they don’t, that will still exist mentally within their community and they won’t be able to properly value themselves as who they are. Belief in yourself is essential for your
This paper is written to give my personal reflection on a book entitled The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It is one of the assignments for EDC3360 Course, Social Work for Community Service. We were asked to read this book because the content of this book has relation with the course we are taken for the current semester.
He wanted to be able to properly write his thoughts and opinions out to be understood. He wanted to leave an impression on people to give them a thought of him exceeding his education far beyond the eighth grade. That impression was credited to his “prison studies” (Malcolm X 1). He had a voice that needed to be heard all over to bring a change to society. He self educated himself day and night with the dictionary, teachings ,and books. Malcolm X considered that “three or four hours of sleep a night” was enough (Malcolm X 3). Malcolm X became interested in the “glorious history of the black man” (Malcolm X 3). “Book after book” showed him the “white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown,red,and yellow peoples every variety of the suffering of exploitation” (Malcolm X 4). Like Douglass, Malcolm found the “Faustian machinations” of the “white man” against the “non-white victims” (Malcolm X). Douglass states, “I feared they might be treacherous.” Unlike Douglass being social and receiving help from others around , Malcolm was to himself and seeked information on his own through books. Malcolm X had more pride in his education and wasn 't afraid to share his knowledge, “Mr. Muhammed, to whom I was writing daily, had no idea of what a new world had opened up to me through my efforts to document his teachings in books” (Malcolm X 6). Malcolm X had some basic education knowledge
Even if Africans Americans do something wrong Malcolm beliefs that it 's not entirely their fault. The white people were to blame because they were still treating them like slaves in a sense. "...told me to be very careful, because muggings, knifings, and robberies went on every night among Negros...just a few block from the White House." (pg 75 chpt. 5). This is a example of how systemic oppression plays a major role in this book. Malcolm sees how even children half naked are in the streets begging for money and living in shacks when the White House is just a few block
Throughout each stage of his existence there are a multitude of symbols that are made evident. Haley shows how status played a major role in developing Malcolm’s self-worth. The author explains how a “conk” hairstyle tied him to the white world and showed him his own internalized racism. The writer also demonstrates how eyeglasses, a watch, and suitcases played a major role in his final transformation to the great leader that he made himself into. All of these symbols work together through the captivating tale of his life, and illustrates the many things that helped to shape him as a man. All things considered, Haley reveals just how critical symbols are in not only Malcolm X’s lives, but in everyone’s lives. Ultimately challenging his readers to look at their own lives in an attempt to discover what their personal symbols are. Malcolm X’s life had many challenges and setbacks, nevertheless, he discovered who he wanted to be and rose to the challenge, proving himself an important and influential
Coming from an underprivileged home, he had little schooling and instead turned to drugs. The abuse he saw from his father, who was later murdered at the hands of a white man, and the abuse he suffered, under his mother would be crucial in his later actions. One of Malcolm X's first vivid memories was of when his home was burned by the Ku Klux Klan. These circumstances at home would lead to the anger and hate mustering in Malcolm that would be expressed later in his life. These differences in the upbringing are largely responsible for the separate approaches in how they responded to the issue of racism.
The Negro revolution is a stagnant fight; the black revolution is a fight with one decisive winner. In this talk of revolution he also pointed out the hypocrisy of the American people on the subject of violence. How many black people will to go war for a country that hates them and do not even want them in the country, but when a white man strikes them they turned a blind eye because “peace” is the answer. “If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad”(MalcomX, Message to the Grassroots), many people would agree with this sentiment. Why condemn those who want to fight for something they believe in using violence when we as a country are doing the same thing overseas. Later in the speech, Malcolm X calls out the modern house Negros we have today in the United States. A house Negro was the slaves who stayed in the living quarter with their master and were maids and butlers and tended to the children. The latter are the filed Negros who worked in the fields and stayed in
Throughout history there have been many people who have stood out and made an impact in the way we think and comprehend things. During the late 1950's and early 1960's, Malcolm X was no exception. His militant views that Western nations were inherently racist and that black people must join together to build their own society and value system had an important influence on black nationalist and black separatist movements of the 1950s and 1960s. At the beginning of the movie, Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little. He was a young child trying to adapt to society's changes. He was looking so hard that he fell into the wrong crowd.
Malcolm’s point of view remains mostly consistent throughout his piece, but it slightly shifts at the beginning, middle, and end. First, he talks about when he was a child and he could not read. He also tells about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. The way he talks about his journey shows his point of view. Readers are able to put Malcom X on their level and relate to him because he tells about his real journey of learning to read. This makes the reader think about him differently. Rather than being Malcolm X, he’s just your average inmate trying to find his place in the world. In the middle, his point of view is still that of an inmate, but now with more insight to help him shape his mo...
In the book, Malcolm X, the recurring theme of racial identity and systemic oppression was plaguing each society like Harlem, Lansing, Mason, and Boston during the birth time of Malcolm, which leads to a lifestyle that would developed into a sense of radical reforms that would makes Malcolm become who he is, as he reflects on the past events and choices that Malcolm made as he told Alex Haley. The short sentences contributes to the beauty of the text by the way of representing the scenes of the past events as it happened to Malcolm while the long sentences shows the reflections of how Malcolm reacts to the past.
The author shows good structure in this text by giving the reader a pre-life look, before Malcolm is even born. At a young age Malcolm already had a bad perspective on whites. He had to move to Michigan to get away from the white supremacists and even after moving his house was burnt down by Ku Klux Klan members. From watching the house burn he learned that being in Lansing, Michigan meant that the most success for a black is a waiter or a shoe shiner, not a respectable job that white people were able to have. In chapter one, as a shoe shiner, Malcolm gets cheated out of a dollar that he was going to earn from shining a white boys shoes. This shows Malcolm that everything is stacked against the black community and they don’t get respect such as the whites
So the whole story of Malcolm x life is about racial prejudice towards his kind – Afro Americans. Since birth, every day in his life, he feels the dilemma being a Negro. Reading chapter 1 makes me really sad knowing his father get assassinated since he was small. The factor of assassination is related to racism. Starting from that, everything started to fall apart and his mother went insane. I almost cried reading the line that he cannot describe his feeling after the insane mother doesn’t recognize him. For him, things would get better if the social agency doesn’t separate his family. So here I think somehow maybe it is true that the social agency had just wanted to help them to be better but actually it has destroy them emotionally.