Coming From An Awareness Of Language By Malcolm X

In Malcolm X's Article, "Learning to Read", he explains how he was self-instructed and how literacy affected his life starting with his time in prison and ending with his part in the civils rights movement. Malcolm X learned to read in prison because of all the time he had, if it were not for this he would probably continue using slang, and not be able to read or write. When entering prison Malcolm had education up to 8th grade, which he says would be hard to believe hearing how advanced he is now, but this did not stop him from copying the whole dictionary and learning every word possible. All this learning truly changed Malcolm's life, he was now able to read and could understand everything that he could not before. Malcolm began reading

Baca and Malcolm X, learnt how to spend their time with more beneficial works in the prison and started to gain knowledge by reading and writing. Baca writes, “ It saddened me to realize that I had been in a prison… But I was hopeful too...One of the guys showed me how to address my letter and where to put the stamp. Then, feeling flushed with achievements” (199). He didn’t learn knowledge in reading and writing at his young age due to the environment he brought up. For instance, Baca received an assist from his inmates on how to deliver a letter in prison. With the assistance from people, he was able to find out the interesting knowledge that he never experienced before. Due to his curiosity in finding out knowledge is interesting, he wanted to learn more knowledge no matter what kind of environment he was in. With this in mind, Baca used the limited learning material such as dictionary to gain more knowledge, without delay his time in prison, he started to learn about reading and writing in English by using the dictionary. As long as he was willing to gain knowledge, no matter what kind of environment it will be, he still able to learn more about reading and writing. For instance, other people gained knowledge in school while Baca gained knowledge in prison. By having different kind of learning environment, he was able to gain knowledge where he never thought to do it before. Baca became the famous author who experienced many things in his life. From the experience of learning new knowledge in a different environment, Baca will able to adopt the changes of environment easily in his life. Due to Baca’s limited learning environment compared to Malcolm X, this made him appreciate everything that could help him to become literate. Malcolm X states, “ Between Mr. Muhammad’s teaching ... , months passed without me thinking about being imprisoned” (237). Malcolm X gained more knowledge despite

Since the past, black people had been oppressed and excluded from a formal education, leading them to find ways to educate themselves. While they open their minds to new worlds and perspectives, they encounter themselves with a disastrous world that discriminates them and unjustly takes their rights away from them. In these essays, “Learning How to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, both authors tell their stories about how they found their way into the world of literacy even though they were banned to do it. Because they left ignorance back, they realize all the injustices that surround them. In my opinion, literacy is one of the most important tool humans possess to be aware of the issues of the world. Knowing about world problems makes people able to decide how to act towards situations and helps avoid being led by people that the only thing they want from others is power.

In the short narrative, Coming to an Awareness of Language, by Malcolm X, we are told the story of how a young Malcolm X developed from a illiterate street hustler to a self educated man in prison who would later go on to lead the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X recalls his stay in the Norfolk Prison Colony School as never feeling “so truly free in life.” OInTThe reader gets a firsthand account of the story from Malcolm X, which gives the audience a better and more realistic connection to situations in the story.

During the 1960s, Malcolm X was one of many articulate and powerful leaders of black America. Before he was a street hustler and spent seven years in prison, where he educated himself. Before this time, he was almost completely illiterate. He describes how he could hardly compose a sentence with a straight line or correctly articulates words, let alone read and write. Not being able to express his thoughts and feelings in the letters he wrote inspired him to educate himself. Malcolm then became one of the leading spokesman for African American separatism. Unlike Malcom X Frederick Douglass escaped to New York, where he became a leader in the abolitionist movement. Frederick was born a slave and couldn’t read or write at all. His mistress was teaching him how to read and write but suddenly was against instructing him so he

Given that his eyes were now used to the light, he could no longer see the shadows. The other prisoners scoffed at him because they thought he had spoiled his eyesight by going outside. These prisoners were so comfortable in their ignorance that they would rather have remained chained up. Malcolm X in Coming to an Awareness of Language undergoes a similar experience to the prisoner mentioned in Plato’s Allegory. Before he began educating himself in prison, Malcolm X was a hustler with an 8th grade education. He wanted to share with others in letters what he had been studying and feeling in prison, but had no proper knowledge of words that could well-explain his thoughts. He began copying the dictionary and learning a myriad of new words. In the end, what he had learned while in prison truly empowered

In his autobiography, he writes about his time in prison and his frustration in not being able to communicate properly to Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X started copying words from the dictionary and everything on the page down to the punctuation and began reading books on history, philosophy, and religion. He writes, “I copied into my tablet everything printed on that first page, down to the punctuation marks. . . As my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying.”

Malcolm X used direct and to the point language, which could be understood, by all levels of society. He spoke in very casual, easy-to-understand words such as “all of that kind of stuff”, or “Just look here”, unlike Martin Luther King, who, in his speech, used many metaphors. “Mississippi will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice” (King 1963). King used his words in a very educated manner. This quality would appeal to all races including whites and African Americans. He is graceful and yet appealing to the black community. Malcolm X’s use of words reflected those of a man who came up out of the same world that he is struggling to set his people free from. He used “street talk” to appeal to his followers. Knowing that Malcolm X talked the same way his followers did, they felt a sense of

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley is an account of Malcolm X’s evolving perspective on racial justice. Malcolm X was a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam who advocated for black nationalism and separatism. The man who became one of America’s most powerful voices for African Americans was deeply affected by the terrors of racism, which shaped his view of social justice and the condemnation of the white man. The way Malcolm X narrates his experiences changes as his views on race change. At first, he wants readers to feel the destructiveness of racism, so he conveys his experiences through provocative language. When he aims to promote universal peace, he takes on a more optimistic tone. As a

He saw educated prisoners achieve a certain celebrity status and desired these skills as well as status. Malcolm X describes these inmates and the status they possessed: “There were a sizeable number of well-read inmates, especially the popular debaters. Some were said by many to be walking encyclopedias. They were almost celebrities” (212). He envied these educated men and became determined to grow to be educated. In pursuing his self-taught education, “Malcolm X emerged as the leading spokesman for black separatism, a philosophy that urged black Americans to cut political, social, and economic ties with the white community” (intro 210). Not seeking the prestige or degree for his education, his efforts made him a leading advocate for the civil rights and liberties of African Americans and a leading spokesperson for the Nation of Islam.

Through his readings and new found religion, the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X finds self-pride. He starts to become proud of who he is and where he came from. He realizes that before, all he was trying to do was act like someone he wasn’t and all it had gotten him was seven years in prison. The letters he got from Elijah Muhammad and his family encouraged all of this. He strives to admit his guilt, and “implore the forgiveness of God” (170). He would often “be startled to catch [himself] thinking in a remote way of [his] earlier self as another person” and marvel at how much he had changed (170). All the reading he did “awoke … some long dormant craving to be mentally alive” (179). His trip to prison opened up new doors for him because he gained knowledge that made him rethink his niche in life.

He could explored more new words than other people. Baca gave out free readings and speeches around the country after he became an author. Baca’s limited learning material, required him to work harder than Malcolm X. Malcolm X asserts “ I saw the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary-to learn study, to learn some words” (236). Rather than wasting time in the jail, he decided to memorize the new words from the dictionary. He found out that he didn’t know many words and he needs to learn the words. Malcolm X copied down the words with its meaning in the dictionary and reviewed the words again until he was able to remember the meanings. He continued learning the words and its meaning from the dictionary once after he completed one alphabet orders. For example, Malcolm X continued learning in letter B when he mastered the words from letter A. He gained more interest in learning words from the dictionary because he realized that the dictionary actually was an encyclopedia. Dictionary helped him to advance to the next level of readings in his life. With his unremitting efforts in learning from the dictionary, Malcolm X became one of the most famous

Although Malcolm X’s repetition does a splendid job of conveying his message, the strongest tools in his arsenal are his anecdotes, or short stories. Because the text is a narrative, it tells mostly of real events in his life. He tells this narrative through anecdotes about his time in prison reading countless books and texts. For example, he recounts the time that he read the dictionary, reciting countless volumes of words just to learn new things (162). This demonstrates that all of these event that he mentions happen to him and were true. When Malcolm X uses this anecdote he is saying that a simple dictionary furthered a man that would become one of the most prominent civil rights activists. This further proves his point that learning to read is the most important and influential ability

In Coming to an Awareness of Language, while in prison Malcolm X put effort into every part of his learning experience. Malcolm X struggles working on learning word that he didn’t know existed. He spends his time in the prison’s library, reading different books. Malcolm X wanted to fight for was freedom and equal rights because he does not come from a strong background he knew that the only way too doing was through writing. Coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic without knowing how to speak or even write in English opened my eyes to the true importance of language.

Once X is released from prison, he immediately begins to make the most of his freedom by practicing the religion of Islam and eventually become a minister for the Nation of Islam, and he explains his idea that white and black Americans should not integrate by establishing credibility and making connections with the audience …. Even though Malcolm X seems like a shaky source of information due to his criminal history, he turned his life around in prison by educating himself, and while outside of prison, he continues his education by learning from the messenger of Allah, Elijah Muhammad. Additionally, when X is promoted to a role as a minister for the Nation of Islam, he becomes an even more reliable source while also using his platform to preach with inclusive terms, therefore effectually applying rhetoric. During one of X’s speeches, he emphatically cries out: “Our enemy is the white man! And why is Mr. Muhammad’s teaching us this such a great thing? Because when you know who your enemy is, he can no longer keep you divided, and fighting, one brother against the other! Because when you recognize who your enemy is, he can no longer use trickery, promises, lies, hypocrisy, and his evil acts to keep you deaf, dumb, and blinded!” (256).  In this speech, Malcolm X uses the phrases “our”, “us”, and “you” in order to appeal to the black members of the audience. By using those inclusive terms, he does this effectively while also eliminating white people from being included in this