a. Explain the process by which the author improved his reading and writing abilities.
The process by which the author improved his reading and writing abilities begins when he is in prison. At first, he studied in prison under the teaching of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, and he wrote letters to people, whom he knows in the outside world. After these letters were sent, he found out that it was difficult for him to express his feelings because of the lack of vocabulary. In addition, he was jealous of Bimbi, who always over controlled the conversations. Therefore, Malcolm X put all of his effort into learning new words and their meaning in each section of the dictionary. By writing down the words on the tablet and read them back to himself after days, his vocabulary was broadened. As a result, he could read, understand what a book said, write his own words, and have interested in reading.
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What is about Bimbi that makes the narrator wish to “emulate him”?
Bimbi is a prisoner as Malcolm, but when he talks, he has a power that everyone else has to listen to him. The conversation is controlled by Bimbi may be because of the academic tone and the knowledge foundation that he has. Malcolm is jealous since he could not be like Bimbi; therefore, he wishes to “emulate” Bimbi and takes his
Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. A Brief History with Documents written by David Howard-Pitney is a great history book that gives us an entry into two important American thinkers and a tumultuous part of American history. This 207-pages book was published by Bedford/St. Martin’s in Boston, New York on February 20, 2004. David Howard-Pitney worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University in 1986, and that made him a specialist on American civil religion and African-American leaders ' thought and rhetoric (208). Another publication of Howard-Pitney is The African-American Jeremiad: Appeals for Justice in America.
Sample Body Paragraph 1 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.
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).
It all began when he was sentenced to a term at Charlestown Prison. He met a man named Bimbi who was fader more educated than young Malcolm had ever been, which eventually led him to his determination in his prison studies and gain knowledge. He began first by looking at available books, reading only the words he could and skipping the ones he couldn’t because his lack of reading skills which he soon found to be complete a waste of time. It wasn’t until he got to the Norfolk Prison Colony that he finally realized what he really needed was to use a
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.
Although he learned a lot due to books, he believes that each book teaches you a lesson. He believes that all bad books usually have a greater lesson to teach you than the good books. Books also thought him what he can and can’t do while writing. While reading books he learned “Good writing, on the other hand, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the
Malcolm X was an American Muslim leader who contributed to the Civil Rights Movement by spreading his ideas of black nationalism in the 1950s and early ’60s. He was an influential figure in a black Islamic organization, Nation of Islam, and served as a spokesperson for the organization. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965 while making a speech in Harlem. After his death, his life story was made well-known through his autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) (Mamiya 1). Malcolm X is a man whose background and activism contributed to the Civil Rights Movement and America as a whole.
Malcolm X's "Literacy Behind Bars" is about the expansion of his world that provokes a burning passion within himself through the world of reading. While incarcerated, the author meets a man named Bimbi who leads the discussion with his stock of knowledge, prompting Malcolm X to further his skills in literacy. Taking small steps, he first broadens his vocabulary by reading alphabetically in the dictionary and copying pages. He reads aloud to himself until the words begin to stick with him. Not long after moves onto books, devouring them at a relentless pace, Malcolm X became so engrossed with reading that he begins breaking curfew rules just to continue reading by using the light outside of his cell.
Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce. Annotated Bibliography Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ethnic American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students. Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.This encyclopedia points out that the negative interaction he held with the white man as a young hustler was countered by these same experiences pushing Malcolm X to reclaim his “African identity”. This shows, as described by the cited work, what a man pushed by his negative interactions with the oppressive white men is willing to do to find his identity (i.e. through hustling).
Introduction: Malcom X urges the Negro community to fight to gain the equal rights they deserve by taking action against their white oppressors. He emphasizes that blacks will gain their rights either thorough voting, with the ballot, or else through the inevitable violence with the bullet. Thesis [part a] Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also fighting for the civil rights of black Americans in the 1960s, but in a more peaceful manner, Malcom X takes a different approach.
What makes a leader? I believe a leader to be intelligent ,tough, and has the determination to achieve a goal. Having certain skills will have an impact on you being a trustable leader. Being selfless and caring are also characteristics. Malcolm X his birth name Malcolm Little is a fine a example of a leader and has most of these leadership qualities.
Throughout the Autobiography of Malcolm X there are several key events the bring out the central ideas of the text. Some examples of the key events was when Mr. Ostrowski lectured Malcolm, when Malcolm was in jail and he learned the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, and when Malcolm made his pilgrimage to Mecca. A closer look at the central ideas would show that they build on one another. When Malcolm was going to school his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, told home to give up his dream of being a lawyer,” Malcolm, one of life’s first needs is to be realistic.
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.” Through the Norfolk Prison school Malcolm acquired a dictionary, along with some tablets and pencils. This started his personal quest to improve his penmanship and study words to gain literacy. He began by copying the first page of the dictionary word by word. He then read the words he had written in his own handwriting out loud over, and over.
Analysis for Learning to Read by Malcolm X 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.
Summer Writing Assignment Lindsay Harris 8/30/15 Ap Lang Autobiography of Malcolm X Writing Style Alex Haley author of the Autobiography of Malcolm X uses several literary devices to create the tone of his writing. The writer has a very laid back style of writing and the structure is relatively loose. The autobiography is written by telling the story of his life through major events and turning points of his life in chronological order.