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.
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. He has a thirst for information that only
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
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.
In his literacy Malcolm X states that even though he was in prison, he “never had been so truly free in his life” Malcolm X said this quote because by reading and writing he experienced the world “behind bars”. He could not go anywhere else, but by reading he learned more about the outside world and it gave him a piece of imagery. While he was behind bars he learned to read and write. Malcolm
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.
In the essays, “Reading to Write” by Stephen King, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, “Learning to Read” Malcolm X, and “Learning to Write” by Frederick Douglas have three things in common. In each essay Reading has contributed towards the authors life leading to benefit from learning to read, allowing them to leave a legacy behind. In each essay the authors has thought their self how unlike Frederick Douglass.
Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the seventh of eleven children. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Lansing, Michigan, where his family was harassed by whites who disagreed with his father’s black nationalist views. When Malcolm was 6, his father was murdered, and his mother had a nervous breakdown. Malcolm and his siblings were taken by welfare agencies. Growing up, Malcolm wanted to be a lawyer,
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
“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is a personal narrative which describes a specific time in his childhood when he was learning to read and write. Born as a slave in the pre-Civil War south, Douglass was not expected to be literate. However, through strong ambition, Douglass overcame restrictions and stereotypes placed on slaves and taught himself to read and write. Later in his life, Frederick Douglass wrote down this story in his book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Today, students and adults can enjoy this narrative on how he overcame the struggles of learning how to read and write. Although Frederick Douglass was not expected to be literate, he taught himself how because he believed that education should be for everyone, not just a few privileged children.
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.”
Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X were great revolutionary leaders. Their motives inspired others to be against the segregated 20th century. Frederick Douglass is famous for writing “Learning to Read”. The intended audience would have been anyone. Learning to Read was written in 1845 and it is a narrative. This narrative gives us insight into how difficult or impossible it was for people of color to learn how to read and write. Malcolm X is famous for his autobiography called The Autobiography of Malcolm X and specifically the passage about learning to read in the memoir. The intended audience is colored people and in general the public. The autobiography was written in 1965. Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass have very similar yet different
In the essays, “The Joy of Reading and Writing; Superman and Me” and Frederick Douglass’s “Chapter 7: Learning to Read and Write”, Sherman Alexie and Frederick Douglass write about their hardships and challenges they faced while learning how to read and write due to their social economic status. Despite the fact that Alexie and Douglass are incredibly different people, they both use education for freedom and a sense of self-worth. Alexie and Douglass both struggled to receive education and struggled mentally and physically because of their social economic status. Although, Alexie and Douglass both experienced these hardships, they saw the world through a totally different perspective. Alexie saw the world in a more positive manner than Douglass
In “learning how to read and write,” Fredrick Douglass tells about how he achieved the ability to read and write. Thou, it seems like an easy task, Douglass accomplished his goals in a time where society condoned slavery. Despite all the barriers Douglass faced, he accomplished his journey, and learned to read and write; therefore engaging the audience to overcome any obstacles just as he did.
The ability to read and write is both creative and destructive. This ability opens your eyes to the world and how beautiful it can be. It also has the potential to destroy your entire grip on reality and expose you to the actual world you live in. It imprisons you yet, releases you from your mental confinement. Some people never escape from this confinement, some do; and those who escape sometimes go on to do great things in life. It pains me to say that I will not have the satisfaction of giving each and every one of those people who escaped or not the credit and appraisal that they so dutifully deserve. No, in this essay I will be focusing on three people, each with their own hardships and their own “imprisonments”, whether those “imprisonments” were literal or not; they deserve to be appraised. All three of these people contrast against each other greatly but, at the same time have immense comparisons. For example, all three of these people are minorities but, only two of them are male. Another example would be, all of them lived in America yet, only one of them is still alive. All three of them have had their hardships but, all three have escaped their imprisonments.