Self-Determination In In Learning To Read By Malcolm X

In the essay Learning to Read, Malcolm X details the process in which he learned to read and the tremendous effects it had on his perspective of the race issues in America. During his stay in prison, Malcolm X was given the opportunity to spend timeless hours learning as much as he could about reading and the English language. Furthermore, Malcolm X was fortunate enough to stay at a prison that had an extensive library. As a result, Malcolm X was able to discover and learn more about his own culture. Malcolm X learned that the African American culture is unfortunately cast in the shadows of the white population and neglected in textbooks as well as history. Not only does he believe the white population suppresses African Americans, but he believes

“When I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to

In his essay, Malcolm X writes about how learning to read and write opened his eyes to the oppression that surrounded him and the world. Malcolm is a black man that was put in prison when he noticed that he felt uncomfortable when he did not understand anything that he read and that he could not write correctly. His incapacity to read and write was what inspired him to request a dictionary, something to write on and a pencil. That initiative changed his life forever. He copied down the whole dictionary, which helped him to learn words and their meanings. “ With

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

Amy Tan’s literacy narrative “Mother Tongue” is about the different dialects of English, she is familiar with. She explains that her intelligence is judged by the way she speaks. Amy Tan, explains memories from her life where she encounters many forms of English. Her mother, a Chinese immigrant spoke “broken English.” She describes her mother as someone who was able to understand English, well the mother claims that she understands everything, but when it came to speaking, she spoke without the correct grammar. Due to her mothers broken English, Amy Tan has adapted to the type of English her mother speaks, their own type of English language. Tan feels as if the English she is speaking with it outside world is more complex than the English she

In Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read”, we learn the story of how Malcolm turned his how life around while serving a sentence he earned from a robbery in 1964, which lead him to spend seven years in jail. During this time, Malcolm discovered the power that reading and self educating himself brought to his consciousness. Who would have known that this man’s entire life would of changed and transformed him into one of the biggest political figures of our time. He himself probably never would've guessed that this would of been his fate while he was in prison serving time for a crime he committed before his enlightenment. A negative choice he made which ultimately altered the path he was destined to go down, Malcolm X is the prime example of how change is possible for anyone as long as you start within yourself.

Throughout Malcolm X's "Learning to Read" his tone and attitude frequently changes. Although the emotions are faintly projected, his tone and attitude are caused by a change in his own emotions, which correspond with the beginning, middle, and end of the passage. The essay not only expounds his lack of reading skills while young, it expounds upon the importance of reading to him today. If a thorough assessment is made, he exclaims that reading is important to readers' lives as it was to his, aiding to shape ones morals and principles. Without the ability to read, a basis for intellect and perception, it becomes increasingly difficult to build your own ethical views.

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.”

The purpose of Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” is to show how challenging it can be if an individual is raised by a parent who speaks “limited English” (36) as Tan’s mother does, partially because it can result in people being judged poorly by others. As Tan’s primary care giver, her mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan’s writing style. Being raised by her mother taught her that one’s perception of the world is heavily based upon the language spoken at home. Alternately, people’s perceptions of one another are based largely on the language used.

When Malcolm X refers to freedom in the final sentence, he is referring to being at liberty. He is saying that he is no longer constrained by his lack of education and his inability to read. Malcolm X carefully studied the dictionary to solve the problem of his own illiteracy. Having risen from a world of thieving, pimping, and drug pushing to become one of the most articulate African Americans. What an enormous frustration he must have felt writing numerous letters that fell on deaf ears. Knowing that he had something to say but not being able to convey it in letters. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, thirty-two million adults in the U.S. cannot read. That is fourteen percent of the Population. These numbers are astonishing! Furthermore, nineteen percent of high school graduates cannot read. There are many benefits that come with being able to read and write. Some of these include economic security, access to health care, and the ability to actively participate in public life. Malcolm X went behind bars partially because of negative educational opportunities. He ends up finding freedom when he learns of the connections between culture and education that society has denied him. He did this by copying and studying the pages of the dictionary, page by page. He would also stay up at night reading, and was careful to make sure that the guards at the prison did

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.

In the excerpt “Learning to Read” from his 1965 Autobiography, Malcolm X argues that he had more opportunity to learn about the world and specifically black history in prison than he would have received in a formal education setting. He describes the process in which he essentially taught himself how to read and write, and how it lead to an awakening of his desire to learn everything he could through voracious reading. X illustrates to the reader the painful histories that he read about and the powerful knowledge which he gained to show that one needs little more than access to a book collection and the motivation to learn in order to become educated. This reading resonated with me as a learner whose love for independent learning often takes a backseat to the demands of academia and provides a key concept which I plan to instill in my students as a future teacher.

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

Ever since my mother started working about 18 years ago, she has had jobs as a cook in a kitchen of a restaurant and has never “needed” to learn English. In response to that my siblings and I would have to translate for my mother, or often have to speak on her behalf. This includes small experiences like screaming to a drive though employee from the passenger seat of a car, or translating for my mother in a doctor’s office. When I first read Tan’s essay I could relate to the statement “I was ashamed of her English” and now after reflecting upon it, I am not. I also feel that I was steered away from writing and into other subjects as well.

In “Mother Tongue” (1990), Amy Tan writes about her life as a Chinese-American growing up speaking broken English and how that quickly changed before she wrote her first book. Amy Tan begins her article explaining that she was not a scholar of English, but rather a writer. She mentions how captivating the language is for her and then talks about a lecture she had a while back where she spoke about her writing life and her books. In that very lecture she realizes that her mother was listening the whole time so she begins to emphasize on the English her mother used to speak. Her mother spoke Chinese as a first language, but nevertheless she spoke English, a rather Chinese-English.