In the narrative “My First Conk” influential black rights activist, Malcolm X, tells of the first time he straightened his hair when he moved to Boston. Malcolm uses the experience to convince blacks that they must embrace their own identity rather than changing to be like whites, because it reinforces the idea of white superiority. At this time, black men would often go through the harmful process of “conking” their hair in order to have a straight hairstyle like the white majority. Malcolm states, “Look around today… and you'll see conks on black men… It makes me wonder if the Negro has completely lost his sense of identity, lost touch with himself”(156-157). Malcolm draws to the attention of black men that conking their hair results in complete loss …show more content…
In sarcasm the meaning of the words and phrases used by the author are not the literal meaning but are used in mocking something or the reader. As he speaks of the process of conking Malcolm states, “The magnitude of negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that black people are “inferior” -- and white people “superior” -- that they will even violate and mutilate their god created bodies to try to look “pretty” by white standards” (156). The words “inferior”, “superior” and “pretty” are placed in quotes because of Malcolm's sarcasm in them, he intends to cause harm to the reader with this. Without knowing it the blacks have believed in these forms of inferiority and superiority and the conking has publically displayed that. He hopes to push the black race to recognize their ignorance in choosing to change themselves to look more white. The enforcement of these ideas onto the reader causes the black man to feel ashamed and therefore helps Malcolm succeed towards getting his message across. Overall, the use of direct sarcasm aids Malcolm in showing the importance of the black race and its need for
In the novel ‘Deadly Unna?’ various discourses about racism are portrayed, exemplifying the individual’s belief, attitudes and the values of the characters. The reader is positioned to view Blacky as having no knowledge of how racist his friends are through the racist comments that are made amongst them and Blacky's going along with it. At the start Blacky may not have been aware of the racism around him as he previously laughed and even told racist jokes. The statement “And the priest says I got the black bastard with the door. And they all laughed all the regulars. Especially Slogsy. But I didn’t. I don’t know why, I’d laughed at the joke bef...
When it was time to rinse out his hair, Malcolm went to the sink and turned on the faucet, but no water came out. Malcolm started frantically searching for water everywhere—the soap dispenser, the bathtub, another sink, but nothing had water coming out of it. Unfortunately, Malcolm ended up having to put his head in a toilet to relieve the pain only to look up to see the police waiting to arrest him. This scene, though amusing, did not happen in the book. But throughout the movie the theme of conks seemed to play a large role. The movie started with a scene of Malcolm getting his "first conk," though it was different because in the book he got his first conk in an apartment with only Shorty and himself there. Also in the prison scene, right before Baines walked in, Malcolm was perming his hair to get a new conk. And of course the scene before Malcolm got arrested. In the book, conks were not mentioned as much, besides the fact that everyone called Malcolm "Red." The movie put such emphasis on conks perhaps to stress one of Malcolm’s main points on how the white’s “brainwashed” the Negroes by trying to get them to be like them. Even though the movie was based off the book these scenes made the movie and the book slightly different. Many of the movie's scenes were different from of the book's, but these two were likely the most
After pin pointing the major differences between black and white culture, Malcolm finds white culture to be extremely bland and lifeless, rather than black culture which is lively, colorful, and the exact opposite. Malcolm takes up a job as a shoe shiner at the Roseland State Ballroom where his first early lessons on hustling began. After being “schooled” Malcolm’s point of view enhances as he starts to learn the ways of how Boston works. While working at the ballroom Malcolm observes the dancing styles of blacks and whites, how “The white people danced as though somebody had trained them-” and “-those Negros – nobody in the world could have choreographed the way they did whatever they felt-”(pg.52) Malcolm feels as if dancing is in the blood of African Americans, and feels prohibited by the fact that he doesn’t know how to dance (“I could feel the beat in my bones, even though I had never danced”). The author describes the feel of the ballroom during these dances by using fast paced words and short sentences to create the illusion of a lively environment. Exclamation points and hyphens add on to the noisy, ear-ringing atmosphere. The way the sentences are structured makes the reader want to read faster and faster, trying to keep up with the rapid movement. Malcolm begins to change his style, by buying outrageous zoot suits, knob style shoes, and he even gets his first homemade conk. The conk represents black people inflicting pain upon themselves trying to look “pretty” by white standards. It shows how blacks would “literally burn my flesh to have it look like white persons hair.” Malcolm even admits that “This was my first really big step toward self-degradation.”(pg.56) Everything that was white or affiliated with white culture, was seen as superior and everything that wasn’t was considered
The author's use of slang further advances the vision of how Malcolm was and how loose and lay back the black community was. When Malcolm first attempts to dive into the Boston lifestyle he's still a little stiff and "Hick"-like, but he eventually learned to dance at the parties he attended and this contribute to the beauty in thy a man finally learns, after leaning on the wall at parties, that he can dance and he actually finds it very entertaining. The moment described in the text also contributes to power in that black people are natural born dancers and are naturally fun
First, the diction that Richard Wright uses in this passage of him in the library shows his social acceptance. An example of this is when Mr. Faulk, the librarian, lets Richard borrow his library card to check out books from the library. Richard writes, a note saying, “Dear Madam; Will you please let this nigger boy have some books by H.L Mencken. ” Richard uses, “nigger boy,” on the card so the other librarian would think that Mr. Faulk had written the note, not him. Richard having to write the word “nigger” on the library shows that if Richard would have written “black boy” instead, the librarian would have known he would have written the note. The fact that Richard has to lie and write a note to just be able to get the books from the library is an example of his social acceptance. Another example of diction showing Richard’s social acceptance is when Mr. Faulk gives Richard the library card and he tells Richard not to mention this to any other “white man.” By reading this statement by Mr. Faulk, it clearly shows how unaccepted blacks were and how afraid people were to be connected to them, even if it only involved giving the...
The concept Malcolm thought of was if there was a society of apples, and a part of the society happened to be rotten, the best course of action was to separate that group from the bunch. This concept was, what he believed, required in order to obtain equality. For while the black apples were the healthy ones, the white ones were rotten. With this idea in mind, Malcolm said, “Will these awakened black masses demand integration into the white society that enslaved them?” (DR), and when he said it; he displayed two key factors. First, the black masses have awoken, meaning they were sound asleep to the lullaby of the thought of integration and how amazing it would be; and now they’ve awaken to see that separation was better choice for them to obtain equality. Second, he showed actions of the “white society” they reside in. He accomplished this by asking if they wanted to live free where they people who enslaved them live, and if they would shake hands with the people who locked up their hands. To further illustrate the point, he asked “Will the exploited and oppressed black masses seek integration with their white exploiters and white oppressors?” (DR). This was a rhetorical question of course, and like a nail, he used it to continually hammers the point into the minds of the people, that they cannot integrate with those who have oppressed them. To
In The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm is told by his 8th grade teacher to think realistically about career goals. He is told to drop his ideas of becoming a lawyer, and look into the field of carpentry, which was a stereotypical Black job. Blacks were being discriminated against in all aspects of their lives. Even as maturing students, they were told what to do with their lives, simply because Whites did not believe Blacks should hold the same freedoms. In the movie, Eye on the Prize, we see how Blacks tried to keep their cultural values while living in the "White mans world." Like the Mexicans, Blacks had a societal identity, yet they faced many hardships in trying to find their personal identity.
She set the theme of the article of expressing that straightening of black people hair is the denial of self acceptance in having the confidence of their individual features. She states “Heterosexual black women talked about the extent to which black men respond more favorably to women with straight or straighten hair” (Hooks 538). She explains how they try to please other people in trying to make themselves more beautiful to others they want to attract. This is a personal opinion. She makes a broad generalization that all black men are attracted to women that have straight hair. This statistic is not efficient because there are different men that are attracted to different styles. The majority of people do not change themselves because they want to appeal to others, but to make themselves feel better about their personal beauty.
Each wave, kink, coil and curl has carried the weight of systemic oppression by way of racism and misogyny; when the two are not mutually exclusive, they are known as misogynoir. Laws and policies have been in affect since the 18th century to police the appearance and presence of black women in the United States. Tignon laws, as a set of rules from a larger set of sumptuary laws to protect citizens from overindulgence and vice, were imposed along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans, Louisiana. This rule forced free black women to cover their hair. The reasoning behind this rule was to “other” black women in order to counteract the jealousy of white women and the practice of white men having black mistresses. However, the Tignon law was counterproductive because free black women saw tignons as badges of honor and not as a punishment; they began to wear colorful head wraps and tie them in elaborate and innovative fashions. This rule enacted in 1789 foreshadows the struggles and triumphs of black women’s hair as a source of
Hair has the capability to convey a great deal about a person. Malcolm X’s change in hairstyles revealed a lot about not only how he perceived himself, but how he viewed the entire African American race. Malcolm wore his hair in a hairstyle known as “conk”. That hairstyle is a hair straightening gel that is made from lye. Often, the process involved with “conk” leaves chemical burns on the heads of the people who use it. The hairstyle allowed African Americans to achieve hairstyles that resembled those worn by Caucasians. Reflecting back on the implications of wearing a hairstyle that made him appear more “white” Malcolm X acknowledges that,
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.
Malcolm knew that being blunt would be the easiest way for his audience to believe the reason for white people being so evil, and it also prevented from his audience losing belief because they understood him. He states, “The white man! He feeds those organizations! So he controls those organizations! He advises them so he contains them! Use your common sense aren't you going to advise and control and contain anyone that you support, like your child?" (Haley 163) With these short, simple phrases his audience wouldn’t have a hard time understanding what he was trying to say but able to depict his rousing, powerful speeches with
Malcolm's first encounter with academic education leaves him with a negative opinion of schooling. He is looked down upon by his teacher, merely because of the color of the skin, no matter that Malcolm was the brightest kid in the class. After he decides to leave school, his main source of education is through experience. What Malcolm learns in Boston is that the influence of white people is so intense that it affects the way that African Americans view themselves and their fellow counterparts. Interestingly, we see Malcolm describe the well-off Negroes as “Hill Negroes” and the others as “ghetto Negroes”, which seems to show that the self-image of Africans Americans are defined by the guidelines of the whites. Malcolm states “Under the pitiful
This paper will argue that to be a Black woman with natural hair, is deviant in the eyes of white culture. Natural hair is regarded as unkempt, unclean, and unprofessional (Thompson 2009). American society seeks to demonize the hair of Black women because natural hair disregards Eurocentric beauty standards (Robinson 2011). To rebel and wear one’s hair naturally comes with a price - especially in the workplace and school environment - because there are discriminatory dress-codes that prevent Black women from meeting institutional requirements (Klein 2013). Black women face discrimination for their natural hair due to the power imbalance of white men in work and educational structures.
Also the efforts they went to too fit in with the whole community and experiences and what the struggles of having kink hair mean for him and the community. Blacks liked doing their hair and the effort they went to get it perfect, but there was negative comments due to the Blacks having different hair styles to the whites. Gates also talks about times with growing up in the period of Black Civil Rights and learning how to deal with not being treated the same as whites. In the text Gates states, “because daddy had straight hair I would do anything to have straight hair, and I used to try everything to make it straight, short of getting a process, which only riffraff were dumb enough to do” (Gates, 45). In other words, this means that they would do anything possible they could just to get straight hair so they were not picked on by the white people for being different. Another attitude that the community portrayed was that they were ashamed of their hair and how they looked. For instance, Gates stated “Mr Charlie would conceal his Frederick Douglass mane under a big white Stetson hat which I never saw him take off. Except when he came to our house, late at night, to have his hair pressed” (Gates 43). As a result, it shows that he was too embarrassed to be seen in public because he did not want to be personally invaded or harassed for