Preview

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

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
359 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of Malcolm X's Coming To An Awareness Of Language
In his article "Coming to an Awareness of Language" Malcolm X tells during his imprisonment in Norfolk Prison, he was unable to articulate his thoughts to others. "I became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters that I wrote". Malcolm X felt "inferior" when he would write his letter, because he was unable to convey his thoughts and write down a simple letter. It was a daunting task for Malcolm. Even though he stated "The average hustler and criminal was too uneducated to write a letter". Malcolm was smarter than a average hustler, but he wasn't satisfied with being average than a regular hustler, he wanted more. "Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge. Bimbi had always taken

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In Learning to Read, Malcolm X, one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of black America during the 1960s, describes his struggle of self-education while being incarcerated. Malcolm X composed his journey of self-in order to convey the message that the reader should strive to look for more than what is taught to them by the public school system, to, in a way, look outside the box.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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 wasn’t the most articulate hustler any more as he used to be in the street. Bimbi a fellow prisoner in Charlestown Prison would take over conversations because of his vast vocabulary and knowledge from reading. Malcolm was not only impressed but aspired to be as intelligent. Malcolm explains “Bimbi made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” When he started his sentence the highest education he had was at an eighth grade level he received as a child. So Malcolm begins reading to acquire the same eloquent speech, but he comes across a problem. Malcolm couldn’t understand but every few words in such sophisticated books as Bimbi read. Malcolm became frustrated because he could only read the words he knew but in the end had no understanding of what he just read. Malcolm felt as though he was reading another language, such as Chinese.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Malcolm X, Detroit Red, Satan, and El Hajji Malik El-Shabazz. Although, Malcolm was the main character throughout the autobiography. These were the various names used by the prominent African-American civil rights activist, Malcolm X, during the various stages throughout his life. Malcolm Little, officially known as Malcolm X, was the son Louise Helen Little and Earl Little and was born on May 19, 1925. He was the fourth out of seven children and also had the brightest skin complexion out of all the children so as a child that led him to believe that he was treated better by his father, and evaded many of the beatings suffered by his siblings daily. Despite his bright skin complexion, Malcolm still encountered…

    • 142 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Serving his ten year sentence in a state prison Malcolm X encounters a religious teacher named Baines (Albert Hall) who provided knowledge on Islamic beliefs. He too was a manipulator. He taught Malcolm X not to have self-hatred in exchange for hate people of Caucasian descent. For instance, in one scene Baines interrupts Malcolm X in the shower as he is using his lye straightening products. Baines offers Malcolm X a drink, which is similar to a drug to get him high. Baines does this because he known this is the only way Malcolm will speak with him. He actually even states it to Malcolm in the scene. This was a manipulation tactic similar to the one used by Archie in the bar scene. Baines becomes the connection between Malcolm X and Elijah…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In "A Homemade Education", Malcolm X admits his frustration about his inability to express himself the way he'd like to. It can be said that Malcolm X was discouraged as he mentioned that he "wasn’t even functional" (Malcolm X 134) and though he did feel this way he turned the negative feelings into something to strive for. In the Charlestown prison Malcolm X was in there was another inmate named Bimbi who he envied because of his ability to use words and his knowledge. Malcolm X's envy of Bimbi drove and inspired him to seek and ultimately further his own education in a sense in deciding to read and copy out of the dictionary. Malcolm X gained a hunger for the knowledge he was obtaining as exemplified in the following quotation: " I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying... in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading in my bunk... In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life." (Malcolm X 135). Malcolm X used his time as way to learn everything he possibly could so that he wouldn’t have to be envious of the knowledge someone else possessed. In Maya Angelou's "Graduation", Angelou also showed her discouragement by the words of Edward Donleavy at her graduation who told the congregation of how many more opportunities whites had over blacks. Angelou's graduation was an occasion that had so many excited because they had worked so hard to accomplish the feat of gaining an education and they were also excited for what their future had in store for them; however, many of them including Angelou felt in the moment that those hopes and…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Celeste Michelle Condit & John Louis Lucaites argues that, Malcolm X the most thorough and relentless revolutionary dissident of the 1960s, who loudly implored his Black brothers and sisters to use “all means necessary” to bring about social and political justice and equality for Black America. It was impossible to know whether or not Malcolm X’s evolutionary vision would ever have produced a positive and peaceful program of political action capable of effectively organizing, motivating, and directing Black America against the system that oppressed it, for he was robbed of the opportunity to try at the age of 39.…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the excerpt from Malcolm X’s “Message to Grassroots,” Malcolm X uses effective stylistic devices such as colorful figurative language, effective repetition, and powerful diction to persuade his audience of his argument. Malcolm X feels strongly that America has treated the people of color unjustly, and he is angry about it. He is arguing that minorities need to forget their differences, so they can unite in a common cause to gain equality and liberty. Too, he says blacks, and other “unwanted people,” should wake up to reality. They must understand they are being treated unfairly, and by doing so, can “plot a course” to become educated and therefore have the ability to defend themselves against white oppression. Malcolm’s masterful use of language makes his speech effective.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Malcolm X is one of the most controversial figures in US history. His dominant image is that of a ‘black supremacist’; an image embedded into the mass mind to such an extent it has become an ‘historical fact’. The picture painted has associated Malcolm with violence, racism and hate, so future generations will dismiss him as just a racist demagogue – a one-dimensional, fanatical enemy of America. This raises the issue of ‘facts in history’, and how such accusations became ‘facts’. However, in this essay, I will show that such images belie Malcolm X’s extraordinary dynamism and non-fixedness, and his immense metamorphoses as a man, leader, and thinker. Having divided his life into three stages – since he did live his life in three distinct stages, with three different personalities and goals – I conclude that while the dominant image is superficially plausible, it is in fact an image severely distorted due to the threat that Malcolm posed to racial domination and inequality, and by extension his threat to both US domestic security and US foreign policy, even after his death. Malcolm X himself predicted exactly this in his autobiography – that after he dies “the white man, in his press, is going to identify [him] with ‘hate’. He will make use of [him] dead, as he has made use of [him] alive, as a convenient symbol of ‘hatred’” (MALCOLM X, 1964, 381).…

    • 2009 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Back in the 1960s, Malcolm X was an influential public speaker. He protested for equal rights of African Americans. At that time, in the United States, African Americans did not have the same rights as white people. He had a rough upbringing; he was born into a large family and had eight siblings. By the time he was twelve years old, his mother had been sent to a mental hospital, and his father had been killed after being hit by a car. He then spent the rest of his childhood in foster homes. In 1946 he was then arrested for stealing and was sent to prison. This is believed to be a significant motive for making his speeches.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What motivated Malcolm X to educate himself was his inability to express himself in an appropriated way. In the streets, Malcolm X was someone important, someone who could express himself without problem “In the streets, I had been the most articulate hustler out there- I had commanded attention when I said something” (X 189). Nevertheless, during his time in Charlestown Prison, trying to write a letter for Mr. Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X comprehended that he was not able to explain his thoughts or feelings clearly in words without using the language of the streets. Malcolm X realized that his language skills as writing, reading and speaking were unskilled “But now, trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Martin Luther King‘s speech he speaks with such passion and determination, you can tell in his voice that he means everything he says and his hope reaches out to people and the way he emphases his words captures the audience’s attention. He believed that every person should be equal despite their skin color. In Malcolm X's speech he talks more about himself and he thought it would be best for everyone to keep their religion to themselves. He believed that the black people were trapped by the white people. He thought of white people as the enemy and he mostly spoke negatively about them. He made jokes throughout his speech and to me he didn’t sound at serious as Martin Luther. For example Martin said “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite these similarities, the self education of Malcolm X and Douglass has notable differences. As a slave, Douglass was putting himself in danger by learning to read and write. Nothing made his mistress more angry than “to see me with a newspaper” (Douglass 145). He had to be secretive, for fear of physical punishment. In contrast, Malcolm X learned to read in a much safer environment. After spending his adolescence and adulthood on the streets, his punishment for…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s society, what can we do about the beliefs Malcolm X had towards knowledge in reading. One of the main questions will be the way this knowledge in books will change our attitudes in the culture will live on. At the end of the day do books change the overall spectrum of knowledge for anyone trying to become educated by themselves with no source of education background. The main point we have to make in the lives of any individual with a sense of trying to become educated they must have read a book of some source, in which has helped them realize changing their way of thinking into making important decisions. The main function we can do as an individual to prevent ignorance and spread vital information to those who are less educated a group which can help themselves grow intellectually in a…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nonetheless, he ends up at a similar conclusion: Knowledge will give him the ability to assume control of a situation and to influence others with his words—not only spoken, but written as well. It is a fellow prison inmate, Bimbi, who first inspires Malcolm X. “It had really begun . . . when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge,” Malcolm X expresses. “Bimbi had always taken charge of any conversations he was in . . .” (1). Through Bimbi, by failing to imitate what the inmate did, Malcolm X finds his motivation to become literate. “As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    An essay on Malcolm X’s famous speech given in Cleveland, Ohio on April 3, 1964.…

    • 3768 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays