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Essay on malcolm x how he taught himself to read and write
Essay on malcolm x how he taught himself to read and write
Essay on malcolmx
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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. From the beginning of the story, the story starts off formally and before Malcolm was born “When my mother was pregnant with me” (Page 1). He describes everything around him with vivid detail; from events to settings. This style of writing persists …show more content…
throughout the entire 11 chapters except in various exceptions. Malcolm adapts the use of half-sentences to demonstrate how rapidly events are happening around him. “I was up in the jostling crowd-and suddenly, unexpectedly, I got the idea”(Page 60) and “From there on, hardly a party took place without me turning up-inviting myself, if I had to-and lindy-hopping my head off.”(Page 60) are both examples of half sentences, the use of dash marks instead of periods, showing the excitement within Malcolm and how he saw how everything was happening around him, rapidly changing and invigorating. The structure compliments the style of his writing by transitioning the story at varying paces and keeps the flow conventional. Malcolm also makes it relatively easy to make comparisons and reflections between his writings. “Back when I was growing up, the “successful” Lansing Negroes were such as waiters and bootblacks. To be a janitor at some downtown store was to be highly respected. The real “elite,” the “big shots,” the “voices of the race,” were the waiters at the Lansing Country Club and the shoeshine boys at the state capitol.”(Page 5) shows Malcolm’s beliefs of being a higher class in Lansing which he ironically experiences as he grows up and realizes that those were menial jobs. His lack of experience shows when he’s young, not knowing the racial tensions around him and his naiveness soon changed once he entered Boston. “One of life’s first needs is for us to be realistic. Don’t misunderstand me, now. We all here like you, you know that. But you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer-that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be.”(Page 38) allowed Malcolm to fully realize racial tensions around him and decided that he wouldn’t let anybody tell him what he was capable of doing. The content of racial tensions throughout his childhood allows Malcolm to directly address the problem and make it his primary focus. Instead of being like the white man, Malcolm will try to create his own unique identity for all those around him to see. From chapters 5-9 Malcolm begins to adopt the usage of slang and narcotics, his writing reflects his state of mind during that time period. Slang terms were strange and unorthodox to Malcolm and he first heard these words when he entered Boston in a bar; “And these children threw around swear words I’d never heard before, even, and slang expressions that were just as new to me, such as “stud” and “cat” and “chick” and “cool” and “hip.””(Page 45), these terms eventually became a part of Malcolm’s personal vocabulary. As Malcolm acquires different jobs, the settings and the people change around him. “Dirt, garbage cans overflowing or kicked over; drunks, dope addicts, beggars, Sleazy bars, store-front churches with gospels being shouted inside, “bargain” stores, hockshops, undertaking parlors.” (Page 79) describes how filthy and degrading Harlem was as Malcolm explored new places daily. As a result from moving between New York and Harlem, Malcolm becomes more prone to narcotics and profanity, “Profanity had become my language. I’d even curse customers, especially servicemen; I couldn’t stand them” (Page 80), eventually leading his life to be dictated by his choices. With heavy,addictive narcotic use, Malcolm had to live his life running away from the police. Aside from asking for assistance from the white community, Malcolm relies on his own ability to hustle to guide him through his troubles. This portrayal of himself also reflects throughout the entire community as Blacks don’t want to continue to be oppressed by society through racial identity, economy, and stature. “I viewed narcotics as most people viewed food. I wore my guns as today I wear my neckties.” (Page 141) is a statement that Malcolm reflects off of and shows how low he has sunk during his burglary days. Malcolm finally gets caught after intimately flirting with Sophia and her sister, which results with the police searching his apartment and bring the group to court. “I got ten years. The girls got one to five years” (Page 154) shows racial tensions between Malcolm, the girls, and the court. If it weren’t for the color of Malcolm’s skin, then his bail as well as his term would’ve been drastically shorter. From chapters 10-11 Malcolm is sent to prison and becomes influenced by the religion of Islam.throughout the chapters, Malcolm’s paragraphs progressively became longer as more time is spent in prison. The style becomes more informative and begins to show progression and development within Malcolm. The first noticeable change Malcolm makes, forcefully, is withdrawal from narcotics as Malcolm had to find other substitutes “I first got high in Charlestown on Nutmeg” (Page 156). The next changes were visiting the library to reteach himself in the field of English as well as giving up pork. His sacrifice of pork made him experience the muslim teaching “If you will take one step toward Allah-Allah will take two steps to you” (Page 159) and convinced Malcolm to further pursue the teachings of Islam. Going to the library helped him refine his vocabulary as well as increased his knowledge of debates, speech, penmanship, etc. The structure of these paragraphs slowly show how Malcolm is reflecting from his past self, the Malcolm who lived through hustling and narcotics. With those reflections, Malcolm is able to make these changes of himself so he can be closer to Allah. Through his family and through Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm learned “True Knowledge” and “Yacub’s History”. The order at which Malcolm learns these stories helps him reflect and compare ideas between the two stories the way they’re structured. “True Knowledge” shows specific examples in history of how the white man enslaves all races while “Yacub’s History” shows the early development of man; the white man was the last to be created however he still wanted to enslave all the other races. Systemic oppression has occurred throughout history, and Malcolm wants to change that through his teachings of Islam. Malcolm joins the debate program, in which he gains one step further to public speaking and ultimately gains the chance to tell the white man about himself “It was right there in prison that I made up my mind to devote the rest of my life to tell the white man about himself-or die”(Page 188). Malcolm’s debating style was aggressive, using the opponent's ideas and statements against themselves, this allowed Malcolm to easily become involved in the debating field as well as keeping him interested in it as he found it to be invigorating. Through the debate program and Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm started to convert people to Islam, slowly but surely. “You have to be careful, very careful, introducing the truth to the black man who has never previously heard the truth about himself, his own kind, and the white man.” (Page 185) shows how Malcolm is steadily taking into consideration of converting convicts into people of Islam. All of Malcolm’s actions; from hustling to burglary to debating all lead to the author bring the power of the text through the usage of structure, style, and content.
The central ideas of: Racial tensions, racial identity, and systemic oppression, all assist in revealing the author’s purpose. As Malcolm changes throughout the story, his wordhoard and usage of various terms changes as well as the structure of sentences. From half-sentences to long blocks of text, Malcolm’s status also affected the style and structure of his writing; If Malcolm was in a party, the structure would consist of small half sentences as opposed to if Malcolm was telling scenery of a bar in which he would use long descriptive sentences of the setting. Throughout all the chapters, the author was capable of placing vivid images and allowing the reader to experience all the problems and threats Malcolm had to deal
with.
How his time spent in prison made him strive for more knowledge. Also, how he taught himself how to be more articulate. Malcolm X had an agenda of why he wanted to convey himself in more literary manner. Malcolm x talks about his use of language, he uses words
...eir lifehave felt and seen themselves as just that. That’s why as the author grew up in his southerncommunity, which use to in slave the Black’s “Separate Pasts” helps you see a different waywithout using the sense I violence but using words to promote change in one’s mind set. Hedescribed the tension between both communities very well. The way the book was writing in firstperson really helped readers see that these thoughts , and worries and compassion was really felttowards this situation that was going on at the time with different societies. The fact that theMcLaurin was a white person changed the views, that yeah he was considered a superior beingbut to him he saw it different he used words to try to change his peers views and traditionalways. McLaurin try to remove the concept of fear so that both communities could see them selfas people and as equal races.
When comparing and contrasting movies and books, the majority of the time the book presents more of a detailed atmosphere and illustration of events. However, in this case I think the book, "Autobiography of Malcolm X” and the movie, “Malcolm X” quoin side with one another.
Malcolm X was a man who was best known for his leadership positions in various human rights activist groups and his advocating for Pan-Africanism. What most people don’t know about him was how he got there; his struggles on learning how to read and write are described to us in the excerpt from “Literacy behind bars”. Malcom X speaks about his time at Charlestown Prison and how an inmate, Bimbi, was the one who really fueled his desire to better himself through the pursuit of education. From an early time in his imprisonment he picked up a dictionary and word by word began to transcribe it onto his on pads from the commissary. Through his perseverance in learning new words his whole world was opened up as he began reading and, most importantly, fully understanding what he was reading about. Once he gained the knowledge to see the world around him in a different way his newfound love for literature paved the way to one of the most memorable black activist in American History.
The reading on Malcolm X had lots of points that hit everyday society in America for African Americans. Malcolm X was like any other man hustling on the streets to get by, like a lot you see in today society with the drug dealers and such. Starting off Malcolm X was not an intelligent man; he didn’t know how to write without a little slang to his words, he didn’t know how to articulate what he wanted to be said. Malcolm X was convicted of robbery and was sent to Charleston Prison, but was later sent off to the Norfolk Prison Colony School, this is where he gave himself the educated needed to be a well productive citizen. Malcolm X stated, “I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary-to study, to learn some new words (p.211). “I spent two days just riffling uncertainly through the dictionary’s pages.” “Finally, just to start some kind of action, I began copying.” Here Malcolm X is seeing his time being served in prisons to not only be a lessoned learned but to learn something that he knew he would never learn...
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.
“The future belongs to people who belong for it today”(Malcolm X). In the article, “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, and he talks about his adventures while in prison. Malcolm X was a hustler that was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbery in 1946. While in prison he tried to find different ways to give himself an education. Malcolm X goes on to further talk about what he went through while out of prison. He also explains what he learned and how it helped him later on in life while working with Elijah Muhammad who was the leader of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X uses Ethos and Pathos to describe his way of educating himself as well as using strong word choice, good syntax, and good organization.
When analyzing the powerful and informative speech of Malcolm X, its evident that it’s a memorable one. The tonality of the speech employs anger and seriousness. This causes the audience to also to be filled with immense anger as he opens their understanding about the disputes going on in the society. Malcolm X employs the use of repetition throughout the speech, repeating phrases such as "I am not...". This repetition helps to leave a lasting impression on the audience, in such a way that every time the phrase is used, the people will reflect upon the speech of Malcolm X. In addition, repetition is again utilize when X continuously uses the words "you", "hunkies," "polacks," and "blue eyed thing."...
“I’m for the truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole” (X). This quote by Malcolm X represented his attitude towards equality and self-empowerment. The true Malcolm X was a passionate human rights activist as well as an extremely outspoken man during the fifties and sixties. X encouraged millions of African Americans to fight for what they believed in and to take pride in their ethnicity. X persuaded a multitude of African Americans that they are supreme and should not be degraded for their skin color. He learned at a very early age if he wanted something in life, he had to make some noise
My assessment of my development in writing is based on comparison of essays I have written this semester and my reading responses from the textbook. One of my first reading and writing assignments was answering the Malcolm X questions. That wri...
This paper will discuss the different stages of thought processes the former Nation of Islam minister, Malcolm X went through during his lifetime in terms of how he viewed white people, but more specifically “the white man” in America. The reason the focus is on White Americans is because these were the people outside of the Nation of Islam that shaped his life good or bad and put him on the path where he eventually transformed from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X who was one of the most polarizing and controversial figures during his lifetime and even nearly 50 years after his death the name Malcolm X causes certain people to shudder. Malcolm X became a well-known figure during the 50’s and 60’s during the civil rights movement which involved figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. This was a pivotal era in American history because for the first time that there was major push towards full rights for African Americans. When Malcolm X came on the scene he put fear into White people because they weren’t used to hearing the truth about race relations in America and many of them felt that things were just fine because they themselves were living life high on the hog while at the same time exploiting Blacks. Because this type of talk from a black person was new to them they misinterpreted his views as “hate speech” and accused him of trying to incite violence when he was simply trying wake his people up to properly deal with what was happening to them.
In Learning to Read, by Malcolm X, he talks about his studies while in prison. Having only up to an eighth grade education, Malcolm X struggles with reading and writing. The main reason he decided to learn how to read was because of the letters he received while in prison, primarily from Elijah Muhammad. (X 354). He wasn’t able to write responses to them like he wanted to without using slang. Along with not being able to write letters, Malcolm X couldn’t read books without skipping over most of the words, thus motivating him to study an entire dictionary. With the use of said dictionary, he also improved his penmanship by writing down every word, definition, and punctuation he saw. (X 355). Once he memorized the whole dictionary, he was then able to read books. There wasn’t a moment where Malcolm wasn’t reading even at night when the lights were out, he still managed to use the little bit of light shining into his cell to read.
.... This factor ties in another theme of the novel, oppression. The novel informs the readers of how the African- American culture felt oppressed by the color of their skins and their status on the economic spectrum.
Most of Malcolm 's early life was spent in a small town called Lancing. As Malcolm grows up in the Malcolm X Biography, as the power is analyze in the experts along with style and structure. Malcolm reviewing his fathers views he had much influenced on them and how he thought growing up in Lancing. In Malcolm 's teenage life he moved to Boston and loved every bit of it absorbing all the culture. Getting comfy with the Boston life, did have some hardships on Mr. X such as a hustler lifestyle, along with Prison. Having little left Malcolm soon turned to religion and education. Learning Malcolm 's ways has been an eye opener an a many with his style and advanced structure.
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...