Malcolm X Chapter Summary

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Malcolm shares his dream job with the class and his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski. Mr. Ostrowski told him “Malcolm, 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.”(Page 38) and this makes Malcolm realize that Mr. Ostrowski has supported and encouraged his peers but not him. The teacher heartened the other students not because they were performing better than Malcolm but because they were white. This event develops the idea of of systemic oppression and racial tensions. Malcolm isn’t allowed to say what he wants to be because of the color of his complexion and because of this event, he comes to adapt the ideal of integration vs separation later in his life. After being caught on an unsuccessful heist, Malcolm and Shorty were sentenced to jail for 8 to 10 years. When in jail, Malcolm was heavily consuming nutmeg and cigarettes to get him through the days until he hears of Elijah Muhammad. After being influenced to expand his wordhoard and re-educate himself, Malcolm becomes attracted to the …show more content…

He realized his own ignorance during his pilgrimage with his brothers, he wasn’t able to recite the prayers in Arabic nor was he able to communicate with those around him. Malcolm found Hajj to be challenging as the journey was physically demanding on his knees and back as well as spiritually demanding, having to pray throughout the pilgrimage on a daily basis. Malcolm experienced a multitude of new people in Mecca, he met people of different colors and unexpectedly experienced hospitality from a white man. This event leads to the ideal of integration vs separation, Malcolm drew to the conclusion that complete separation is not the solution he is seeking but to cure the white man of his racist ignorance so that all races may live and interact with each other

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