When I started reading the first chapter, I had first tried to put myself into Malcolm X position. It is because I always do it every time I read novels. It is actually to make sure that I really feel what he felt. As it is the first part of this book, so it consists of the background of Malcolm and his family. It is really sad and unfair when I read that the white Americans are very racist. For me, as they are all are citizens of the same country, racism can only create chaos. It is better to just accept differences and live harmoniously.
For me, what I can see, Malcolm is confused. He wants to be with the white, but at the same time he can felt that they are not really accepting him. There are certain limits for the black in America. This can be seen when the teachers make him felt discomfort. They did give him chance to be the class president but they make him down by saying that he should be carpenter. The discomfort makes him stayed with his sister house. Actually at this time, Malcolm thought that he himself being oppressed by the white. He did not really understand that it is the issue of race.
As I continued reading the book, I found out that Malcolm try to be in the society. He wants others to accept him. It is normal for human beings that want to be included. All of us want to be accepted by others. That is why Malcolm at one part of his life wants to show that he is just like other white-man as he coupled with white-woman even he did not love her.
This book also shows me that the influence of friends is very strong. It makes him try to be like other black Americans which imitate the white. It can be seen when he did the conk too. It is a very clear example that he also wants to be like the white.
It can also be see...
... middle of paper ...
...ran verses:
The verse from Surah Al- Hujurat also related to this story, which one part Malcolm met white-man in Mecca. The white-man is not like the other whites in America. I can feel the bonding of Islam that ties them.
As a conclusion, I find that this story is really can motivates and inspires us. I understand now, it is not only motivational books that can motivate us, but also one’s autobiography. All of the good part in his chapters of life should we take as the model for us to follow and the negative part, is for us to take as lessons. Whatever bad things that we had done will be affecting us in the future. There is no other person that will regret for our past mistakes accept us ourselves. However, every people learn from mistakes, whether it is our own mistakes or others. The most important is we realize the mistakes, and we do not repeat it again.
In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” book, Malcolm X suffers to courageously advocate for the rights of blacks. He was a human rights activist. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. Malcolm focuses on how racism against blacks dehumanizes them. The Caucasoid race around Malcolm typically read him as one thing but human, and Malcolm’s need to correct this perception drives his fight for racial equality. He experiences delicate racism in his youth from his family and faculty, United Nations agency treat him otherwise from others as a result of him being black. Although his foster folks and a few of the people he encounters in class square are nice to him, Malcolm thinks these folks treat him nicely so as to point out however unprejudiced they are. He feels that they 're mistreatment of him as a result that he 's completely different, as if he were a “pink poodle.” At the start Malcolm successively dehumanizes the Caucasoid race as revenge for his own subjugation. In Boston, he displays his white girlfriend Sophia as a
This paper is written to give my personal reflection on a book entitled The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It is one of the assignments for EDC3360 Course, Social Work for Community Service. We were asked to read this book because the content of this book has relation with the course we are taken for the current semester.
Malcolm X’s encounter with his English teacher became a major turning point of his life (Cone 45) , not only, Malcolm X did not have a clear sense of his identity, Cone suggested that he was not even in a supportive environment where he could search for it and fight openly against others who denied him that right. It represented the end of his attempt to become integrated into a white society. Malcolm X believed that no matter what he did he would
Malcolm X is an important figure in human history because he was a human rights activist and fought for equality among people. He was a proficient public speaker who spoke for minorities, mostly African Americans. By reading Malcolm X’s story, I visualize on how a man suffered from the effects of prejudice and his whole disposition was formed from it. I see how a very angry man stayed angry at the "white devils" f...
the sense that they must stand together against the suppression of the whites and that they must endure their "non-Americanism" amongst the company of one another,. Yet, as soon as he has done this, Malcolm X. turns to make, what might seem, a paradoxical and fairly non-artistic.
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.
When Malcolm hit the eighth grade his English teacher Mr. Ostrowski asked what he would like to do for a career when he was an adult. Malcolm said that he would like to become a lawyer. Mr. Ostrowski’s retort would be burned into Malcolm’s head for eternity. “A lawyer-that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be.” Malcolm left Lansing and went to Boston to live with his sister Ella, because she had gotten custody of him and life in Lansing was unbearable. Malcolm stated “Whatever I have done since then, I have driven myself to become a success at it.” Malcolm was now mad at the world for the hardships it had given him, and he was determined to not let it get in the way of him being what he wanted to
He follows the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, which explains how history books have been altered to suit the likings of the white race (X 276). Elijah Muhammad was Malcolm’s mentor, and he was an African American religious leader who led the Nation of Islam in the early to the mid-twentieth century too. Malcolm emphasizes how minority groups have been left out of history texts, and for this reason, he believes that the white race is evil. There are multiple examples Malcolm gives of the white race being immoral and hypocritical. Slavery, the Opium Wars, and the Crusades were all actions against the minorities of the world and completed without true reason or morals; therefore, Malcolm became an activist for the betterment of minority
The author is clear with the content and has no fear of telling the truth just as Malcolm X expressed himself. Malcolm 's character is strong and full of expression good and bad, Malcolm uses every inch of his time to become the exact person he wishes to be and strives to have the knowledge of whatever may be unknown. Malcolm had a love for his heritage history and what is also expressed is that African Americans are not always seen as the problem. There are many points in the book where it speaks of a white man being the “devil” which is a strong word used for the people who are generally always saying that African Americans are the problem and the ones to blame. The authors purpose is to educate the readers is many different ways and does it through every chapter in various amounts of writing, which describes the beauty and content incredibly
He even notices this change within himself – “It was then I began to change—inside. I drew away from white people…nobody, including the teachers could decide what had come over me. I was being discussed.” (p. 39). Not only is this a major event for Malcolm’s character development, but it also conveys the central idea of systemic oppression in the text. Malcolm was an intelligent kid and had higher marks than most of the kids in his school. However, his teacher told him “A lawyer—that’s no realistic goal for a nigger.” (p.38). Systemic oppression is developed in this text because no matter how intelligent a black person was, they could not be as successful as a white
In fact, up to then, I never had been so free in my life” (Goshgarian pg. 144). He probably felt free because reading can be excited when you put yourself into the story. Having knowledge led him to a freedom that he never felt before in his life. The literacy changed his life and inspired him to find an interest in history. He began reading books on black history and how white people discriminated against black people and how they treated the colored men. In the article it says, “But at that time, I felt that the real reason was that the white man knew that he was the devil” (Goshgarian pg. 142). After reading the stories about the stuff white men did to black men Malcolm decided to join the nation of Islam.
...ack Nationalism to coexistence. He pointed out how America can live without racial problems that it had since slavery. This was a road trip for Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam which used the name of Islam to promote its own social and political agenda to that of true Islam, which allows Malcolm X to see an alternative approach towards his objectives.. George Breitman in his book “The Last Year of Malcolm X” states “…if they adopt Malcolm’s strategy, accept his legacy and develop it n accord with the logic of the direction in which he was moving during his last year, then all of America will be transformed…” Reading the Ballot or the Bullet after knowing this will make one think beyond the actual words that are mentioned in the speech. Today, because of his boldness, Malcolm X is viewed by many, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., as a great civil rights leader.
Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers, he was courageous for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted White America in the harshest terms for its crimes against African Americans. Many accused Malcolm of preaching racism and violence; he has been recognized as one of the greatest and most inspiring African American Civil right leaders in American history. Malcolm had a rough life growing up as a kid, his father died when he was at the age of six and his mother was placed in a mental hospital. This wasn’t a great childhood for Malcolm and he went on the wrong path at the age of twenty. Malcolm was accused of breaking and entering and was sentenced to prison. While in prison he was a member of a group called the “Nation of Islam”. After being released from prison, Malcolm became a co-leader of this group and becoming the face of this controversial group teaching black supremacy, advocated the separation of black and white Americans and rejected the civil
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is about a man who changed the history of America. Malcolm (Little) X preached what he believed about racism, discrimination, and segregation. He went through many changes in his fight for equality. The three transformations that really changed the way Malcolm thought and preached where his transformation in prison, his transformation into the Islamic religion (following Elijah Muhammad), and the biggest transformation of all, his pilgrimage to Mecca. In all of Malcolm actions, teachings and transformations we learn different points of view and we get a good look at different aspects of events. The life of Malcolm (Little) X as told in his autobiography should be read by all.
My initial reactions to this movie were inspired and enlightened. Malcolm, like any young African-American boy in a time of racial hatred, did not have it easy growing up. In fact, he did not have it easy when he was in his teens to early twenties either. Nor did he have it easy when he was an adult. Yet, at least by his adult age he understood this and what his father had been fighting for. Therefore, with his Islamic conversion in prison, he set out to change the world as best as he sought. Thanks to this film and the autobiography it was based on, we can now truly understand this struggle, inner and outer, for justice, liberty, and the pursuit of all to have happiness. With Denzel Washington -traditionally a great actor- playing Malcolm