Malcolm X Textual Analysis

The Autobiography of Malcolm X is written with structure, style, and content all conjoined to create a truly beautiful portrayal of Malcolm X’s life. The story of Malcolm’s life captivates readers through the use of quick sentences, engaging content, and simple structure. Malcolm X accomplishes explaining his life and what he did. The Autobiography uses structure to give the reader a complete story, beginning, middle, and end, followed by unique and engaging style, coupled with raw and fascinating content to envelop the reader in the beauty of the text.

Malcolm X is written a chronological, type, structure to create a easy to follow story with a simple progression of Malcolm’s life along with the chronological order there are retrospective

comments added in to allow Malcolm to explain his thoughts and actions during that time. “We children adjusted more easily than our mother” (11), shows the story starting with Malcolm as a child through the use of “we children” indicating Malcolm as a child at the time. As the Autobiography progresses throughout his life it allows the reader to develop and bond with Malcolm through his experiences. “Though i was not quite 16 yet then, i was tall and rawboned and looked like 21” (62), this quote indicates Malcolm’s growth in the story as well as further establishing the chronological order of the book. Along with establishing the chronological order it also demonstrates his retrospective comments added in, to help explain situations and events to readers. The structure is used to create a simple yet engaging story for the reader.
The style of Malcolm X is absolutely fascinating. The autobiography has varying sentence length, frequent stops, and uses diction from that period in Malcolm’s life. The style of Malcolm X allows the reader to feel, in a way, how malcolm felt at that time.” I turned up the steam, Laura’s feet were flying; I had her in the air, down, sideways, around; backwards, up again, down whirling” (69), this quote perfectly captures the separated and chaotic sentence style. This use of style gives the reader a quick and vivid idea of what Malcolm was experiencing at the time. It turns the reader’s mind into a flurry of images of Malcolm’s life. It allows the reader to connect and be captivated by the beauty of the story. Along with sentence style there is also Slang from the period of Malcolm’s experiences. “ Skin me, daddy-o” and “My man!.. Gimme some skin!” (82), depicts how Malcolm acted and talked during that period. It adds an extra dynamic beyond just the facts of his life and goes into Malcolm’s personality. This allows the reader to relate and bond with Malcolm, as the reader progresses through the story the begin to know and like Malcolm which is furthered by demonstrating of how Malcolm spoke. Malcolm X is unique in the way that the reader feels as though he knows and has a relationship with Malcolm through his autobiography. The Autobiography uses the style of sentences and word choice to demand the reader’s attention. The style is intriguing and enthralls the reader's mind.
Racism, systematic oppression, and reformation are all ideas and themes that are portrayed through the content of Malcolm X.

Malcolm X is portrayed as a victim of racism, a victim of society, and though it all Malcolm is depicted as a reformed man who is dedicated and educated. “ My Father’s skull, on one side, was crushed in” this demonstrates the harsh and brutal racist acts Malcolm experiences during his childhood. This portrayal of a boy with a murdered father and a future victim of racism gains sympathy from the reader which starts the relationship between the Reader and Malcolm. The raw content also allows Malcolm to explain what he went through that led him to his later actions in life. Along with the blatant racism Malcolm was also a victim of systemic oppression. “After a while my brother Reginald had to have a hustle” (115), this quote depicts the systemic oppression during this period. Malcolm and his family, and Blacks in general, could not acquire jobs and therefore had to acquire jobs through illegal means. Malcolm was oppressed by society as a whole, including the government, that he, and other Blacks, were forced to commit illegal actions which led to their incarceration. The racist acts toward Malcolm along with the systemic oppression led to the imprisonment of Malcolm, and finally his reformation. Malcolm becomes a changed man through prison. Malcolm begins to read and educate himself in order to learn about Islam and debate with Elijah Muhammad. “For evil to bend its knees, admitting its guilt, to implore the forgiveness of god, is the hardest thing in the world”, Malcolm shows his reformation from, “Satan” (157), to a Muslim. This quote perfectly demonstrates Malcolm's transformation into religion and being an educated adult. Malcolm’s transformation allows the reader to side with him and favor Malcolm again because he is no longer an “evil” person. Malcolm’s use of his development regardless of the obstacles establishes the story as an

undoubtedly powerful autobiography.
Malcolm X is written with unique and captivating structure, style, and content to steal the reader's attention and create an explanation of Malcolm . Malcolm uses retrospective comments coupled with a chronological structure followed by the breaking up and fragmenting of sentences to create a fast and chaotic style which is then combined with content in unison to develop the most beautiful and powerful autobiography. All of these elements, together, are the power and the beauty of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.