Crystal Jones
Professor Ryan-Johnson
Composition 1
20 September 2015
The World behind the Books
In the essay “Learning to Read,” the civil rights activist Malcolm X describes all the many different literatures such as black history, learning how to read, learning every word in the dictionary, and the history of why black people and white people act the way they do towards each other, he learned during his time in prison. Malcolm X wants the readers to understand that all this time that has passed he has been stealing, robbing, and being a hustler in the streets so he never knew how to read or write. Malcolm wrote this because after learning how to read and write he could read the books in the prison library and learn more about the history
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that Elijah Muhammad and Bimbi were teaching about white people, were back people made first or white people, the “true” history about black people’s past, and the way that white people have treated other minorities and countries. Now that Malcolm X learned how to read and write, is he right for doing the research himself or should he just believe what everyone tells about white people and his history? The answer to this question would have to be yes, because instead of going around and killing white people because of what he heard from other people he went and found out all of the facts and then he decided to spread his knowledge and facts to others. Malcolm’s first important point from his essay is that Elijah Muhammad taught him that white people had changed history, sometimes did not mention anything that had to do with black and changed some of the facts in history books because more of them were being written by white people.
For example Malcolm X wrote that when he was in his United States seventh grade history class he said that the teacher had covered all black history in one paragraph (213) of the text book and would make rude comments and jokes to the class during the discussion. In today’s society it’s not really the teacher that makes the comments anymore because they could get fired, now it’s the other classmates in the class that makes the slide remarks. Malcolm X also mentioned that Elijah had spread his teachings to many other black people in different parts of the United States and other black people saw that what Mr. Muhammad was teaching was that most of them did not know anything from a black person that actually lived what happened in the past, all they know in what they learned in history and sometimes what is in a history book is not always what’s true. After considering all of this Malcolm went to the library and checked out a bunch of different books that would give him some insight from other black authors to hear their side of black history. Some examples would be Story of Civilization by Will Durant, Outline of History by H.G. Wells, and Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois (213). After looking through all of the comments and remarks Malcolm still decided to find out more information on his
own. In the last paragraph Malcolm X learned about a few different pieces of literature. He learned about a book called Negro History that taught him about black empires, the time before slaves were brought to the United States, and the struggles that blacks had to endure in order to get freedom. An author name J.A Rogers wrote a three volume set called Sex and Race that talk about the different races mixing, learned about a guy named Aesop that wrote tales, Ethiopia, which is considered the oldest black civilizations (214). He learned about Genetics from reading Gregor Mendel’s book. According to Gregor the white chromosome for a white person is a recessive trait and a black person’s chromosome is heterozygous. Which means according to what Elijah taught Malcolm about the person being born first is scientifically incorrect.
Analysis of Malcolm X Shot and killed at the young age of thirty- nine. A man who was not quite finished with his literary learning. The author Malcolm X of Discovering the Power of Language. Is what Malcolm x uses to tell the world about his struggle for a larger intellect. As knowledge is gained so was the power of Malcolm's speeches. In Discovering the Power of Language Malcolm takes his audience through his own journey of how he once spoke in the past.
As I grew up learning to read was something I learned in school, yet for Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X can’t say the same. These two amazing authors taught themselves, at different stages of their lives, to read. In Sherman Alexie’s essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” and Malcolm X’s essay “Learning to Read” they both explain the trials and experiences they went through that encouraged them to work to achieve literacy.
For Frederick Douglass, learning to read was more difficult because he had to hide that he was learning to read and write. It was difficult for him because it was prohibited for slaves to know how to read and write. He started to learn to read because help him at first. Then he started getting white boys to help him learn without their knowledge of what they were doing. Another way that he was learning was by reading a book when he was running errands for his mistress. Frederick Douglass learn to write by walking through a shipyard and learning the letter that were written on wooden plaques. He started out by copying the letters L, A, S, F on timber he found in the shipyard. But at the end of his journey he accomplished his goal with unknown help from people he was appreciated. For Malcolm, it was a bit easier because he had books from the prison 's library at his disposal for when eve he needed them. He also had notebooks and pens he could write with. Malcolm learned to read and write by copying the entire dictionary and then repeating what he wrote to himself. He read a lot of books to improve his vocabulary and because they made him feel free. Frederick loved to read to know what was going on with him and his fellow slaves. He started to hate being a slave and to think that white people were cruel once he started to understand what was going on thanks to learning how to
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.
... or would come in contact with. He’s a proven fact that you can make it, even through the roughness situations, like him being in prison for seven years. He talks and says, “I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me;” “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life;” “As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive,” (p.217). With that being said I will end this paper with one more quote from this brilliant African American Man, “My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America,” (p.217). His teachings shall be something that every African American carry with them throughout educational and everyday life.
Everyone remembers when they learned to read and write some more than others. Even well known people like Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. They wrote narratives, “Learning to Read And Write” by Frederick Douglass and “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, to show us when, where, and how they learned to read and write. Both authors go through struggles that we would never think could or would happen. Even though they go through struggles they still became eager to learn more to better themselves. It gave them power they never thought they could achieve. They have many similar and different trials that they went through so they could learn how to read and write.
Malcolm X was often encountered by Muslims from other countries who wished to “enlighten” him with what they felt was true Islam. He was initially very skeptical towards these claims but eventually his curiosity got the better of him. To get to know the religion better, Malcolm was directed by his friends to an Egyptian professor in New York, Dr. Mahmoud Youssef
The short story “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, and the excerpt “Learning to Read” from The Autobiography of Malcom X had similar themes, although they were written with different styles. The theme these two stories had alike was the power of learning through books and reading. Sherman Alexie and Malcom X both drastically improved their education by teaching themselves new things. They did this by reading books, dictionaries, and anything else that interested them. It is amazing what these two men have done for themselves, and very inspiring. Sherman Alexie became a successful writer, and Malcom X became one of the most powerful leaders of black America. The impact that books and other written pieces had on these men did not happen overnight, but in the end it was time well spent.
“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” address their abilities of being self taught to read and write. A deficiency of education makes it difficult to traverse life in any case your race. Being an African American while in a dark period of mistreatment and making progress toward an advanced education demonstrates extraordinary devotion. Malcolm X seized “special pains” in searching to inform himself on “black history” (Malcolm X 3). African Americans have been persecuted all through history, yet two men endeavor to demonstrate that regardless of your past, an education can be acquired by anybody. Douglass and Malcolm X share some similarities on how they learned how to read and write as well
“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.
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.
Having the knowledge to read and write may take someone into a completely different universe, it allows to see reality or escape from reality. It gives a better understanding of what goes on in the world, that being good or bad depending on how he wants to see it. Malcolm X wrote a short story " A Homemade Education," about how, his experience in prison allowed him to gain knowledge and to grow as an individual. Learning to read and write showed him, how to be mentally alive in a way that changed his life forever. He took it as an ability to grow, to make a change for himself and possibly make a difference in the world. Malcolm X explained how it 's never too late to get an education, there is always time for one to change in life. It is
In the essay “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass illustrates how he successfully overcome the tremendous difficulties to become literate. He also explains the injustice between slavers and slaveholders. Douglass believes that education is the key to freedom for slavers. Similarly, many of us regard education as the path to achieve a career from a job.
Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read,” is a powerful piece about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. Through his reading, he discovered the awful things that happened in history and became a civil rights activist. Malcolm X changed his feeling and position throughout his piece, “Learning to Read.” His emotions are clear in his writing, but the change in his writing is clear to be caused by a change in his own thoughts because of the things he learned. The essay shows his lack of reading skills when he was young, but also how interested he became in it, and how much he uses it. He says that reading is important to readers' lives just as it was to his, helping one to form their own thoughts and views. Without the ability to read and understand the world, it becomes difficult to build your own ethical views.