War rages on in Vietnam, there is rising civil unrest, and Malcolm X has just been assassinated; it is 1965. Alex Haley, co-author of “Learning to Read”, an excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, introduces the readers to Malcolm X’s pathway to freedom through the struggle of learning to read and write. Guided by new found liberation, Malcolm X is able to pursue his passion to advocate for Negroes. Accusations of “the white man” mistreatment upon “the black man” and resilient emotions, used in a time of discontent and a yearning for change, allow Malcolm X to influence, captivate, and connect with his readers.
The release of Malcolm X’s autobiography concurs with a growing hunger for change and progress in the Civil Rights Movement. According to A&E Television Networks, success of major political events such as: the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, continued in helping repressed citizens obtain
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He begins “Learning to Read” with a tone of accomplishment; using a passage such as “...up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” (Malcolm X 1002) After Malcolm X establishes his initial emotional connection with the reader he now dives into a new tone to persuade his readers. Malcolm X begins to show strong anger, hatred, and disgust with the white race. It is apparent through repetition and strong words such as “devils”, “vicious”, “arrogant”, and “cannibalistic”, (Malcolm X 1006) how Malcolm X feels about the unequal world and “the white man”. Despondency echoes throughout the minds of individuals that face segregation, oppression, and discrimination. The use of Pathos throughout the excerpt “Learning to Read” allows the author to identify with how the reader wishes to feel and an insight into how the author wants the reader to respond to the subsequent
In “Literacy behind Bars” narrative from an autobiography by Malcolm X in 1965, Malcolm X shows that being able to read is important and sometimes jail is the best place to learn. The author supports this by showing that he saw the people around him reading and wanted to be able to speak and read as well as them (640). He started out by reading and writing an entire dictionary which helped him read and understand more words (641). Malcolm X read everything that he could get his hands on and was able to learn more and use it later on in his career. He was able to concentrate more about learning in jail then he would have been able to do at a college because he had nothing else to do. Malcolm X would read late into the morning despite that guard
If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.
In "Learning to Read," an excerpt found in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, author Malcolm X attacks his illiteracy while imprisoned for battling the white man. Malcolm in his conversations with other prisoners realized he was not as articulate with the hustlers in prison as he was in the street. Bimbi, a fellow prisoner in Charlestown Prison would take over conversations because of his vast vocabulary and knowledge from reading. This knowledge was where Malcolm X drew his inspiration to be Malcolm just as intelligent. This was his initial start toward his autonomous learning. Malcolm X explains, “Bimbi made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” He became fascinated with the vast amount of knowledge of Bimbi. When X first arrived in prison, the highest education he had was that of an eighth grader. Therefore, Malcolm begins reading to obtain the same eloquent speech, but he comes across a dilemma. X explains how he could not comprehend every word in the sophisticated books Bimbi read. Malcolm became frustrated because he could only read the words he knew but in the end had no under...
The Autobiography of Malcolm X follows the life of an international figure, Malcolm X. During Malcolm’s life he faces the hard facts that no matter how smart and intelligent he is, he will never be held above even the least intelligent white. Blacks are allowed success but only to a certain point. That point declares that Blacks can never infringe on the success of Whites, and when they do so, their ideas, aspirations, and intelligence will be shot down into the racial stereotypes this society has be known to understand.
When comparing and contrasting movies and books, the majority of the time the book presents more of a detailed atmosphere and illustration of events. However, in this case I think the book, "Autobiography of Malcolm X” and the movie, “Malcolm X” quoin side with one another.
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.
In “Learning to read and write ” Frederick Douglass described the obstacles that he faced trying to get an education as a slave.During the time of slavery the idea of slaves reading and writing was viewed as deadly. In his narration he expressed how his enslavers did what ever they could to prevent him
Malcolm X is a 1992 American drama film about the Afro-American dissident Malcolm X. A tribute to the dubious dark dissident and pioneer of the battle for black freedom. It was directed and co-written by Spike Lee, the film stars Denzel Washington in the title role, and in addition Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo. When Malcolm was little, his dad was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. Malcolm turned into a burglar and later arrested by the police and is sentenced to ten years in jail. While in prison he found the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. He lectures the teachings when let out of prison, however later on goes on a journey to the city of Mecca, there he converts over to the original Islamic religion and turns into a Sunni Muslim and changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. He was murdered on February 21, 1965.
Education is extremely important and can be achieved in the most unexpected places. In "Homemade Education", Malcolm tells about his time in prison, where he taught himself how to read and write. Behind the bars, through the use of a dictionary and books he became literate. In this article he explains how one can change his or her lifestyle by the taking the advantage of the opportunities that are available. This relates to me because couple of years ago, I didn't know how to speak English, but I took an advantage of the opportunities I had to learn a whole different language.
Malcolm X. “Nightmare.” Intersections: An Introduction to the Liberal Arts. Ed. Peggy Fitch. Littleton, MA: Tapestry, 2011. 90-99. Print.
Analysis of Malcolm X Shot and killed at the young age of thirty- nine. A man who was not quite finished with his literary learning. The author Malcolm X of Discovering the Power of Language. Is what Malcolm x uses to tell the world about his struggle for a larger intellect. As knowledge is gained so was the power of Malcolm's speeches. In Discovering the Power of Language Malcolm takes his audience through his own journey of how he once spoke in the past.
Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read,” is a powerful piece about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. Through his reading, he discovered the awful things that happened in history and became a civil rights activist. Malcolm X changed his feeling and position throughout his piece, “Learning to Read.” His emotions are clear in his writing, but the change in his writing is clear to be caused by a change in his own thoughts because of the things he learned. The essay shows his lack of reading skills when he was young, but also how interested he became in it, and how much he uses it. He says that reading is important to readers' lives just as it was to his, helping one to form their own thoughts and views. Without the ability to read and understand the world, it becomes difficult to build your own ethical views.
“The future belongs to people who belong for it today”(Malcolm X). In the article, “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, and he talks about his adventures while in prison. Malcolm X was a hustler that was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbery in 1946. While in prison he tried to find different ways to give himself an education. Malcolm X goes on to further talk about what he went through while out of prison. He also explains what he learned and how it helped him later on in life while working with Elijah Muhammad who was the leader of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X uses Ethos and Pathos to describe his way of educating himself as well as using strong word choice, good syntax, and good organization.
Malcolm X was a man who was best known for his leadership positions in various human rights activist groups and his advocating for Pan-Africanism. What most people don’t know about him was how he got there; his struggles on learning how to read and write are described to us in the excerpt from “Literacy behind bars”. Malcom X speaks about his time at Charlestown Prison and how an inmate, Bimbi, was the one who really fueled his desire to better himself through the pursuit of education. From an early time in his imprisonment he picked up a dictionary and word by word began to transcribe it onto his on pads from the commissary. Through his perseverance in learning new words his whole world was opened up as he began reading and, most importantly, fully understanding what he was reading about. Once he gained the knowledge to see the world around him in a different way his newfound love for literature paved the way to one of the most memorable black activist in American History.
In Learning to Read, by Malcolm X, he talks about his studies while in prison. Having only up to an eighth grade education, Malcolm X struggles with reading and writing. The main reason he decided to learn how to read was because of the letters he received while in prison, primarily from Elijah Muhammad. (X 354). He wasn’t able to write responses to them like he wanted to without using slang. Along with not being able to write letters, Malcolm X couldn’t read books without skipping over most of the words, thus motivating him to study an entire dictionary. With the use of said dictionary, he also improved his penmanship by writing down every word, definition, and punctuation he saw. (X 355). Once he memorized the whole dictionary, he was then able to read books. There wasn’t a moment where Malcolm wasn’t reading even at night when the lights were out, he still managed to use the little bit of light shining into his cell to read.