Malcolm X Malcolm X Summary

Malcolm X developed his character through the use of systemic oppression, integration vs. separation, and racial identification. He went from this young simple minded Lansing boy who disliked the way blacks were looked down on to this well grown intelligent man who tries to make a change to the way that African Americans are treated. Malcolm grew from small town hick to big city minister for Elijah Muhammad. The use of systemic oppression can be referred to when Malcolm talked to his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, telling him how he wanted to become a lawyer. His teacher tells him that it would be best for him to become a carpenter, being a lawyer is more suited for a white man. Malcolm begins to resent the white school he goes to and where he lives.

The author shows good structure in this text by giving the reader a pre-life look, before Malcolm is even born. At a young age Malcolm already had a bad perspective on whites. He had to move to Michigan to get away from the white supremacists and even after moving his house was burnt down by Ku Klux Klan members. From watching the house burn he learned that being in Lansing, Michigan meant that the most success for a black is a waiter or a shoe shiner, not a respectable job that white people were able to have. In chapter one, as a shoe shiner, Malcolm gets cheated out of a dollar that he was going to earn from shining a white boys shoes. This shows Malcolm that everything is stacked against the black community and they don’t get respect such as the whites

The way that the author talks about his father being murdered by whites and his mother being put in a mental hospital really adds a lot of structure into the text. It gives you an idea of what Malcolm is feeling toward the white people. When Malcolm moves to Boston he sees a whole new style of people. He comes to Boston with the style of an old country boy, Malcolm, coming from Lansing as a hick into this new “Hipster style community” in Boston. The style of “conking” is used by the blacks and the author includes it to show what they did to be more like whites. Conking made their hair straight, like white hair would