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Malcolm X Chapter Summary

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X’s purpose in his autobiography is to display how his life’s events led him to become the man he is well known as, as well as show the reader the crisis in America he has worked to destroy. X establishes the basis for his ideals as well as his childhood in chapter 1. He begins by describing how his family has been terrorized by racists since before he was born. His father had been murdered, his home was burnt down, his mother and father fought constantly, and his mother was driven crazy by insurance agents. All these events put together are the reason this chapter is called Nightmare, as Xs’ childhood was filled with conflict and torment. This creates a foundation for Xs’ extreme views on African-Americans and race. For chapter …show more content…

However, when X is caught, he voluntarily gives up his gun and surrender to the detectives instead of attacking them. This shows X still retains some sense of intuition and smarts. X adapts into an educated, religious intuitive individual, and begins to show many more of the traits he is well-known for between chapter 10 and 11. He begins with a severe atheistic attitude that gets him the nickname “Satan”. When Reginald hints at Islam to X, however, X becomes curious, as well as thoughtful. This seen when he speaks to Bimbi, renounces pork, and stops his atheistic rants. When Reginald tells X that the “white man is the devil”, Xs’ mind files through all the white people he has known in his life, and he comes to a sort of revelation. X states that “Not for weeks yet would I deal with the direct, personal application to myself, as a black man, of the truth. It was still like a blinding light” (pg. 167). X is further changed in chapter 11 where he spends most of his time reading of history, preparing debates, improving his handwriting, and educating himself. X states that; “You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge” (pg. 176). This all shows a complete transformation of X, from a

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