Fate, Freewill, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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Fate, Freewill, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Malcolm X, as a character in his Autobiography, believed that fate and prophecy guided his life. When he was sent to jail for ten years, he believed that his incarceration was part of his predetermination to find Allah in the Nation of Islam; it didn't ever dawn on him that he was solely responsible for his time in prison. Malcolm viewed his indefinite suspension from the Nation as a prophecy he was destined to fulfill, not as an act of jealousy and underhandedness by his fellow "Black Muslims." His own violent death was not a surprise to him, for he always had chosen to believe that he would die at the hands of another and that it would be his fate. He did not believe his tragic death was only a result of his recklessness in offering his candid opinions to the press. Although he sometimes believed that he was powerless to resist fate, the happenings in the life of Malcolm X were caused by his choices and were influenced only by the circumstances he was brought into without his control.

Malcolm believed that the underlying purpose for his incarceration was not to punish him for robbery, but to give him the opportunity to discover Allah and to educate himself. Before he was arrested, Malcolm chose to live a wild life in the slums of Harlem, New York. His various "hustles" included number running, "steering", gambling, drug dealing, and robbery, which would later lead to being forever removed from the immorality of Harlem ghettoes. Since all of the occupations Malcolm chose were potentially hazardous, Malcolm believed it to be so wondrous that he had survived that it had to be destiny that landed him in jail. He knew that he had lived evilly in the ghetto, and...

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...avior caused his death. Malcolm X's "fate" was really only the outcome he knew would be a result of his stand for the American Negro. Malcolm had known of this "destiny" since he was an inmate and was always preparing for and delaying his murder. Malcolm never had a doubt about the terrible "fate" that he would suffer.

Malcolm X lived a life of difficulty, in which some might believe would have been impossible to control. From his days as a Harlem hustler, to his imprisonment, to his death, Malcolm X remained an unchanging man of faith. He put this faith in things such as "fate" or his god, Allah, never fully realizing that he had worked for, and stumbled towards, everything that he ever got out of life. He was the master of his own destiny. Even though many "decisions had been made for [him]," (pg. 312) he had the power to do or become whatever he wanted.

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