Analysis Of Malcolm X's Coming To An Awareness Of Language

Focusing our mind on a simple task can inspire us. Malcolm X is a figure who illustrates this idea. He dedicated himself to educating himself and learning how to read in prison. He spent countless hours of undistracted study, carefully copying words from the dictionary to improve his vocabulary and handwriting. Malcolm X’s prison studies inspired him to fight for the rights of African-Americans. This example relates to the article because it shows how Malcolm X was inspired after focusing closely on improving his vocabulary and reading skills.

On June 28, 1964, the Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X delivered a very powerful speech. A speech called “By Any Means Necessary”. During the time of speech, the major issue of the United States was gaining the true rights of an African American. Although Slavery had been abolished, blacks were still treated as less than human. Over the years, they worked hard to get their rights and are continuing to do so. Malcolm X was an effective leader because he had exceptional communication skills. These skills are viewed in his speech “By Any Means Necessary” and have been analyzed.

Both of which are male and both are black, both had a visible hatred towards their oppressors (whites). Frederick Douglas was a slave who obtained the ability to read and write from various actions and events, his first grasp of this ability was  when his mistress (slave owner) had decided for him to acquire this ability, while later being punished for it she became another one of his oppressors. Although Frederick’s mistress began her thrashings upon his determination to gain the power of literacy, he found other ways of gaining the power. Malcolm X obtained his literacy due to his prison confinement, and his introduction to

In “Learning to Read”, Malcolm X uses rhetorical analysis to argue how African Americans continued to struggle in gaining education due to racism. He informs people that through our history books, there have been modifications that restrain the truth about the struggles black people faced. Malcolm X encouraged his audience to strive to get the rights that they deserved. He demonstrates that knowledge is very important because the truth empowers us. In his interview he persuades his audience with diction, tone, pathos, ethos, and appeal to emotion to make his point. Theses rhetorical strategies make his argument affective because he makes a connection with the audience, not only blacks but all minorities going through the

Allegory of the Cave, a short story by renowned philosopher Plato, describes the life of prisoners chained inside of a cave where all the knowledge they receive is given by unknown strangers behind them. It continues to elaborate on their transition from a lackluster world where they were truly in the dark to one that completely surpasses all expectations. Likewise, Stranger Than Fiction, a movie written by Zach Helm, illustrates an IRS auditor, Harold Crick, that is shackled by his mundane lifestyle and also has an embodied voice that seems to be controlling his life. The movie goes on to describe his arduous journey toward finding the woman behind the voice, which ultimately gives him a new perspective on life. Zach Helm’s screenplay Stranger Than Fiction and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave both describe the experience of a person escaping limited perspective darkness and discovering a more complex world than they had previously thought existed. Just like the prisoner of the Cave, Harold Crick breaks free from his chains of naivety and widens his vision to become truly enlightened.

Malcolm X 's "A Homemade Education" uncovers a story of how he gained knowledge by himself and how it guided his thoughts and ideas in becoming a more knowledgeable speaker. Although Malcolm X is a very outspoken person about racism in the United States and throughout the world, he had the right to be upset but goes a little overboard on blaming whites. The main focus of "A Homemade Education" by Malcolm X is his endless attempt to increase his knowledge by teaching himself how to fully understand different words of the dictionary. Although he was inspired by a fellow inmate when he was in Charlestown Prison, Malcolm, young as he was back then, began reading intensely but couldn’t understand exactly what he was reading because of his writing and reading skills. Starting from being illiterate, Malcolm X used every resource he had to broaden his language abilities and be able to communicate to the world and his people.

This idea emphasizes the true passion Malcolm X had for knowledge and shows that reading is the tool that gave him the ability to communicate with others intelligently; as a child my family and I moved around a lot, causing us to uproot our lives constantly. Like Malcolm X when he was isolated in prison, I felt the same emotion of being lost when I moved overseas and could not communicate well with others. This made me the new kid everywhere we went, and books became my escape. For example, we moved to the town of Hamburg, Germany, which is a major port city, and they had a university near where I was living. My mum would take me to this university three times a week. During these times, I would look for and read the English books they had since I could not speak the native language. As I kept going, I would meet others around my age, and we would read these books together. This gave me the chance to learn German and them English.Reading gave me the chance to learn about the culture, people, and areas where I was living. After reading the books, they opened a new pathway to relating to other people for me. Similarly, Malcolm X felt “months passed without even thinking about being imprisoned” due to the fact reading had changed his life (X, 3). The author and I related on an emotional level; therefore we are free with the newfound ability to use our dialog to

He first copies dictionary to build stronger vocabulary words and to improve his penmanship or handwriting because he wants to be able to write in a straight line and to learn the meaning of words he never knew existed. As a result, he copies the dictionary into his tablet page after page, read and reread his own handwriting. He finally copies the entire dictionary which helps him "to pick up handwriting speed"(172). Additionally, Malcolm begins to read and comprehend books on religion and history, which exposed him into a new different world. Malcolm X says "I never had been so truly free in my life"(173). This quote means that he is now able to understand things he had never understood before. Also, the fact of being focused and concentrated on reading and understanding books made him completely forget about the time he was spending in prison because he was connected to the external

The assassination of Malcolm X, an essential figure in the civil rights movement, was unjust because it significantly hampered the progression of the civil rights movement; however, others though his death was necessary to halt the vocalization of the “radical” civil rights activist Malcolm X. This unforeseen inhumanity not only affected African Americans but Asian Americans, Hispanics, and even Europeans. This event impeded the learning of the politicians and regular people who were learning from his teachings and non-other such as Kochiyama Yuri, and even Martin Luther King himself. Due to the unjust actions of Thomas Hagan America has decreased the growth of minority empowerment in many ways.

The person who releases the prisoners has been enlightened from the bonds of a false reality. The prisoners become completely free when they are realesed from their chains, and accept what things truly are, rather than what they had perceived them to be.

Learning to read by Malcolm X is an autobiographical piece describing his self-education. Malcom describes being “Increasingly frustrated. At not being able to express what I(He) wanted to convey in letters.” This gave him the drive to learn to read and write during his time in Charlestown Prison, and Norfolk Prison. He started his self-education by reading books, piecing together the bits that he could understand using context to complete sentences he could not comprehend. The absence of words in his vocabulary struck him as his biggest setback and this led him to the conclusion that “the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary – to study, to learn some words.”

Malcolm X, who used X to signify his lost African tribal name, was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. He stated in his excerpt “Learning to Read” from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “[People] will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade” (Learning to read, X,3). Malcolm X was kicked out of the school after 8th grade, and went to the prison. He learned how to read in the prison. Ever since then, he started to read books and think about the fate of black people’s. As I reading the excerpt, I was impressed by his wonderful writing skill and by how books influenced him like everybody who had read it. Two literary techniques that he used in the excerpt impressed the readers. He used

The Civil Rights Movement took place during the mid-1950s and late 1960s where African Americans protested against the injustice of not receiving the same civil liberties as white Americans. Activists who took part in the Civil Rights Movement, used a non-violent approach to protesting such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Greensboro sit-ins, and the march from Selma to Montgomery in order to bring about equality. African Americans began to receive equality as shown by the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In Malcolm X’s, “Learning to Read”, he encourages his audience to learn from his mistakes through stories of his background that reflect his beliefs that under-educated people need to become aware of the less than positive history of the oppression of African Americans if they plan on attaining their freedom. Malcolm X is more adversarial towards the white community through his vivid descriptions of the brutal history of oppression black Americans face, in order to empower his audience to follow

Malcolm X delivered a powerful speech on April 3, 1964 at the Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland, Ohio. Black people in America came together to receive motivation to fight for equality.In this speech Malcolm X inspires black people to take a stance and fight for their civil rights. Malcolm X uses rhetorical techniques to persuade his audience to push for equality between races.

The power of education is a main theme within A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass 's experiences lead him to recognize its great power and to believe that education is a key in our life. It has the power to open all doors while providing us with several opportunities. Education makes the difference; it expands the human mind since the more we know the more enlightened we are. It makes us free and it avoid us to be enslaved, too. However, literacy turns out to be not only bliss, but also painful. Indeed, while learning to read Frederick becomes more and more aware of the injustices of slavery, and this leads him to regret this knowledge “Learning how to read had become a curse rather than a blessing” ( Douglass ) .