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An Essay on Perseverance Breeds success
An Essay on Perseverance Breeds success
An Essay on Perseverance Breeds success
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“Prison Studies” is an excerpt out of the charismatic leader Malcolm X’s autobiography. Throughout the excerpt, he tells about the other prison inmates as being walking dictionaries, and wanting to be like them is what motivated Malcolm to want to educate himself. Secondly, he tells us about going through every page in the dictionary and writing down everything right down to the punctuation to work on penmanship and to learn vocabulary. Once he learned the English language, he started reading and writing books, up to fifteen hours a day, to try to fulfill his curiosity. Malcolm X had a purpose when writing “Prison Studies” and a certain audience he was trying to reach, and he made a big assumption that he expected readers to understand.
The main purpose Malcolm X wrote “Prison Studies” was to show people that self-education is possible for anyone. He shows people by first finding something to motivate himself, such as wanting to be as educated as
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the other inmates. Once he found his motivation, he was dedicated to his goal of learning and understanding the English language. This shows that anyone even people who start at rock bottom, and know very little can educate themselves to be incredibly intelligent. Not only does it show people who know very little, but also students who blame they cannot learn from a teacher that they can educate themselves to make it through a semester. The two main audiences of people Malcolm X is trying to speak to in “Prison Studies” are people who have nothing and need a chance and students.
The reason I say one of his target audience is the people who have nothing and need a chance is that he was one of those people before prison. Once he got to prison, he had the resources and the motivation to educate himself and to change himself for the better. This should be an inspirational story for people that want to change because if he or she has the dedication and motivation to work for the things him or her want they are going to make their life better. Secondly, when I say he is targeting students that is because he is telling us about how he self-educated himself and how it took him so much work. Some students blame failing a class on the teacher, and this story is a prime example that self-education is possible. This simply shows students that if the teacher is not teaching well enough, that he or she can always educate themselves by finding the time and
dedication. The one major assumptions Malcolm X makes in “Prison Studies” is when he says, “I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions.” From that sentence, he assumes that college is just about: parties, fraternities, and panty raiding. This is an unreasonable assumption because college is more than just parties and fun. Even today people still think college is about partying and fraternities, but that is just because that is all people talk about. The main reason people only hear about the distractions in college is that, that is the amusing and entertaining information to hear and gossip about. People do not want to listen to how going to the library and studying was, or how using there student resources, a learning center, around campus went. Malcolm X had a certain purpose, audience, and had an assumption when writing “Prison Studies.” He showed that he could self-educate himself meaning that self-education is possible for anyone. The audience he was trying to get his purpose across to was students and people who have nothing and need an opportunity to demonstrate themselves. Then Malcolm has one big assumption when he assumes that college is just about: parties, fraternities, and panty raiding. Malcolm states that he learned more in prison because in college, there were many more distractions, and he could have never focus as well. Therefore, Malcolm X did not just write “Prison Studies” to explain his life in prison; he also had a purpose, a certain audience, and had one major assumption about college.
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
Speeches are a method of persuading people to do something. For Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, their speeches were to bring equality for the people of color. However, their approaches are different. Consequently, the effects may be different. An example of their contrasting differences is a speech from each, King’s “I Have a Dream” and X’s “The Black Revolution”. Their speeches used pathos, a central metaphor, and a warning, but was presented differently.
Bimbi, a fellow prisoner, was very intelligent and Malcolm envied his gift. Bimbi encouraged him to read and Malcolm would try but would end up quitting because he would skip the words he didn't know and keep reading. The problem with this was that he could never fully understand what he was reading and would put the book down. So he decided that he needed to learn how to read and write properly. He decided that the best way to go about it would be to get a hold of a copy of a dictionary and study it.
As one of the most proficient civil rights activist of the 1960's, Malcolm X and his speeches were very influential but particularly one speech was highly esteemed, that being the Ballot or the Bullet speech. A speech that was given after the "I have A Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. Despite, Dr. Martin Luther King being a pacifist and also a civil rights activist as well; Malcolm X was more tyrannical and advocated the use of violence. During this era, the democrats were in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, therefore both the Senate and the House of Representatives were leaning towards providing more civil rights to African-Americans. The purpose of Malcolm X’s speech was to convince African Americans to become more politically aware and to vote members of their own race into office. The year 1964 is known for civil rights activists, racist groups, and political strife. In order to achieve this goal and increase the speeches effectiveness, X utilizes a variety of rhetorical strategies within his speech.
Going into prison, Malcolm X is illiterate. He is frustrated that he cannot express himself. Malcolm X decides “the best thing [he] could do [is] get hold of a dictionary - to study, to learn some words.” In the prison Malcolm X requests tablets, pencils, and a dictionary. Then he begins to copy the dictionary on to the tablets. He does this until he has completely the entire dictionary. Typical people do not learn to read and write by copying the dictionary, but by sounding out letters and copying the alphabet.
The history of the United States has in it much separation or segregation due to race. For a long time our country has seen racism as a large problem and this has caused ethnic groups to be looked down upon and forced into a lifestyle of difficulties and suppression. Due to this, races, particularly African-Americans, have been forced to deal with unequal opportunity and poverty, leading to less honorable ways of getting by and also organizations that support change. Malcolm X is one strong example of an African American man who became apart of a group acted against it, uniting people to promote the advancement of colored people and change. Malcolm's thoughts towards race and civil right in the previous years were displayed in a less way to the people and "by any means necessary" perspective. After his pilgrimage in 1964 his view of civil rights had quickly changed into a more complete view of civil rights, and the peoples views towards him. No one really knows what kind of impact Malcolm X would have had on history if he had not been assassinated. His beliefs and philosophy did gain him a place in history as one of the best-known Black Nationalist Leaders. Everyone seems to have known who Malcolm X was, and he ranks high with all other Black leaders. His ideas were radical and he was very out spoken. He was a major force in the development of black history. He fought not only for his people but also for all oppressed people everywhere. He was well spoken and he laid the groundwork for the black power movement of the late l960's.
Malcolm X: His very name is a stab to the beliefs of the white supremacists of his time"X" symbolizing "the rejection of slave-names' and the absence of an inherited African name to take its place." Similarly, in his speech "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm X denounces the actions of the white population, without any attempts to appeal to them; his approach to the civil rights issue is in complete opposition to the tactics of other civil rights leaders of his time, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Rather than trying to integrate the black community into the white, he focuses on the complete separation of them: he doesn't want the blacks to integrate into the white hotels, he wants blacks to own the hotels. He believed that the black population had to break the psychological, cultural, economic, and political dependency on their oppressors. By using tactical phrasing of his sentences that connects to his audience emotionally, Malcolm X attacks the tendency of African-Americans to identify with White America, and insists they identify instead with Africans, their ancestors; thus, he promotes his purpose: to instill a feeling of self-respect and self-help in his fellow African-Americans, which in turn is the stepping stone to the liberation of the Black people.
“Message to the Grassroots” was a speech given by Malcolm X shortly after the march on Washington. Malcolm X was always called an extremist when it came to black rights, and he was fed up with the nonviolent message coming from other civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. The goal Malcolm X had in this speech was to convince the black masses to not be content with the pace of change or the way change is going about. In Message to the grassroots, Malcolm X comes off very strong using a barrage of metaphors and imagery to connect with his audience to prove his point of needing a violent path for revolution.
(Brandt 335). Once Malcolm X learned how to read and write, Elijah Muhammad was then able to understand the letters he received from him, making it easier to stay in contact with him. He was then able to research about Elijah Muhammad’s teachings on how history was “whitened”, and then later became a minister of Muhammad. (X 356-357). Bimbi gained the pleasure of Malcolm X looking up to him and also just unintentionally motivating a friend to better themselves. The prison helps educate inmates, so they hopefully won’t live a life of crime when released or cause trouble while imprisoned. By providing Malcolm X with books, they didn’t have to look after him as much as inmates that were violent and caused problems. The prison also gained his trust, overall making their jobs
...d and oxford. He started to criticize the mainstream civil rights movement; he challenged Martin Luther King jr’s nonviolence and civil disobedience. Malcolm X started to propose that more was at risk than voting and restaurants (Carson, Clayborne). Malcolm x advised his followers to defend themselves “by any means necessary.”(Lawrence A., Mamiya). Malcolm X encouraged everyone to stop using terms like “nigger” and “colored” to instead use “black” or “African American” (Lewis, Thomas Tandy).
In this excerpt from Malcolm X's autobiography, he describes to the reader how he gained his education: by teaching himself to read and doing so liberally.
“When a kid gets so fed up and tired of being bullied they stand up and punch the bully in the mouth.”~Kumasi Sayers Two hundred plus years of abuse, oppression and being less than a human. African Americans wanted change. They looked to leaders such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks. Everyone wants change but people have different was to obtaining it. Martin thought it should be nonviolence, while Malcolm said we need a more direct approach. Although Martin Luther King makes a persuasive argument about nonviolence resistance, Malcolm X makes a more compelling argument by word choice to invoke emotion, showing what he stands for and showing why change needs to be taken by force and showing why others arguments are flawed.
Though violence shouldn’t always be your “go-to” solution, in harsh times of oppression it can be morally justified. When pushed to a breaking point, an outburst can be viewed as a turning point that can either make or break your cause. Though there have been instances throughout history where violence led us down a dark road, there have also been instances where it has held a candle up in a dark room so that the path to a better future can be viewed in its full glory.
Dodd, Vikram. "Why Prison Education?." . Prison Studies Project, Teaching Research Outreach, 16 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
During his time in isolation, Malcolm quickly realized the “street smart” knowledge he thought so highly of, lacked in substance. Seeing the way another inmate named Bambi, effortlessly took control of any conversations he engaged in, Malcolm was envious. Shortly after that, he started to educate himself by reading the dictionary and work on his handwriting. Moreover, he continued his education by reading at new books and stories daily. “Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk” (Helery, 1965, p. 2). He motivated himself, in spite of being in the prison environment and took responsibility for bettering his life. Malcom X continued his education, and eventually became a disciple of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam.