The Achievement of Desire, by Richard Rodriguez and Learning to Read, by Malcolm X

Malcom X's "A Homemade Education" tells a story of how he gained knowledge by himself and how it guided his thoughts and ideas. Reading also molded his political views. Although Malcom X is a very outspoken person about racism in America, and throughout the world, I find that he has a right to be angry, but goes a little overboard on blaming whites.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the story of Malcolm X, an African American male growing up in the United States in the mid-1900's. At this time in America prejudice and segregation were widespread and much a part of everyday life. Malcolm takes the reader through his experiences with American society, which rejects him. This rejection, along with the inferiority cast upon all Black Americans, forces these males to search for acceptance. They are forced to search for purpose in causes greater than single individuals. As the book shows, this is evident in Malcolm throughout his life and in the life of other African American males. The Autobiography shows how during this time in American history

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is the story about a man who greatly impacted American history. Malcolm Little, or Malcolm X as he is more widely known, taught what he believed in regards to segregation, racism, and discrimination. Growing up in a large family with a father Earl Little, a Baptist minister, and his mother Louis Little, who was a homemaker, Malcolm’s life at the time seemed very promising. His father’s involvement in support of the Black National gained him many death threats at the hands of white supremacists. In 1929, they lost their house to fire, and two years later the body of Malcolm’s father was found mutilated. This lead to the emotional breakdown of Malcolm’s mother and in turn she was institutionalized. Malcolm and his siblings were separated and placed in foster homes, and from then, his life began a path of drugs, sex, and crime. It was not until he was imprisoned in 1946, that he decided to make some changes for the better. This essay will assess and discuss those changes whether negative or positive, on a micro, mezzo, and macro level. It will also cover some of the effects of racial prejudice on human behavior, and how society today keeps the ideology of Malcolm X alive.

He had specific goal for his reading and learning although he spent seven years in prison. His goal was to serve the black man in term of Black and White separatism in the 1950’s in United States. His meaningful goal led to great reading and learning of certain subjects, such as Black history, Genetics, slavery, Chinese world history and philosophy. Constantly, he says, “You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man (X 85). Moreover, Malcolm’s education is really an educational experience. Unlike Mark’s education, Malcolm had to begin his fundamental education by learning the vocabulary. Henceforth, he daily spent numerous hours on reading books to gain knowledge and understanding. He himself did that spectacular job without any specific guidance, except for his curiosity only. He said, “I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity-because you can hardly mention anything I’m not curious about” (X 85). On the other hand, reading for the sake of knowledge was a significant way to help Malcolm feel a sense of freedom in spite of being in prison. Truly, the more he read, the freer he felt. He concludes that “I don’t think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did. In fact, prison enabled me to study far more intensely than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college.” (X 85)

This goes to show that anybody no matter if you’re in school or locked away in a prison cell you can push yourself and excel your intelligence. Malcolm X was one of the greatest spokesmen for African Americans during the civil movement, but it wasn’t just his strong voice that moved people it was also his intelligent way with words that he did not fully acquire until he was sentenced to prison. Malcom X was already a smart man, he was street smart and knew how to talk to the common people but it wasn’t enough for him to the point where he wanted to be able to express himself further more into depth which he did not maintain the knowledge then. It was in Norfolk Prison Colony School where he acquired the further knowledge and intelligence from spending days reading, writing, and copying the dictionary to expand his vocabulary.

In Malcolm X's essay Learning to Read, he expresses his feeling and motivation toward education. He explains his hardship being illiterate, and how society forced him to self-educate himself in the English language. Through his essay, he writes about the experience and progress of his path of self education . He describes the feelings he had when he reached and attain new knowledge from the books he read. Malcolm X shows the surrounding he was in and how his lifestyle changed from it. Malcolm X’s essay Learning to Read shows that environment shapes the person's identity.

The Purpose Of Education This passage is going to be about how these three normal people Malcolm X, Richard Rodriguez, and Mark Mathabane's doubted education in the beginning then became very successful and major people in life just by finding the right path to education. Elijah Malcolm, known as Malcolm X was a very successful leader but was not in the beginning. He had dropped out of school in a really early age because his childhood dream was ruined by a white teacher and explains it in “Learning to Read”. In class one day the teacher had ask him, what do you what to be when you grow up.

After reading the short passage for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, lots of the obstacles that Malcolm X went through were related to my life situations. We both use similar techniques to conquer learning difficulty. Moving to a new surrounding and having to deal with new people, had precipitated Malcolm X and myself to think about our reading, writing, and language skills. We both were jealous of another individual that could conduct any conversations or read textbooks effortlessly. Finding a way to overcome the envy feeling towards another person, it would take dedication. To be able to improve our English language skills, it would take determination.

Malcolm X’s brutal childhood influenced him to become a significant activist in the Civil Rights Movement and his passion for equality. According to “Say It Plain, Say It Loud - American RadioWorks”, after Malcolm X’s family

Getting an education in this day and age is no easy feat, which anyone can accomplish. It is for the hard workers and for those who say, “I don’t have time for that I got studying to do.” There are obstacles one must overcome to achieve something great and those obstacles aren’t so different from the ones Malcolm X faced in his autobiography “A Homemade Education” back in the late 1960’s. Whether it is the money student’s pay for an education or the lack of motivation or desire to learn. However it was just as hard back in the 1960’s as it is now.

Malcolm X never had confidence in himself that he was intelligent, he thought it would be a good idea to start reading which would help him grow his intelligence. Malcolm was sent to a state penitentiary and started going to the library and getting books and dictionaries to keep up with his learning. Malcolm X did not even know where to start so he just began to write down words and read them aloud to himself, Malcolm used to stay up in prison past curfew and get out of bed to read books then as the guards would walk by to check on the inmates he would quickly jump into bed and pretend he was asleep, he would repeat that for nights. According to Malcolm X, “Look daddy, let me pull your coat about a cat, Elijah Muhammad... (1) Malcolm X mentioned this because he thought this was not the proper way to speak English, so he wanted to become more

In the 10th grade I saw Spike Lee’s biopic of Malcolm X. From that movie, I learned that Malcolm X was one of the most influential African Americans in history, but he wasn't always like that. Before he became an American Muslim Minister, he was a lowlife scoundrel. This all changed when he went to prison and increased his knowledge. He acquired more knowledge, which led him to understand there are issues that should be fixed. This led Malcolm X to help the population of African Americans understand that supremacy and racism exist amongst them. Malcolm X believed that people should be treated equally, and be given equal rights just like their counterparts. This influenced people to be more aware of their environment and protest on the problems they face. Eventually, this movement made the government guarantee that African Americans should be given the most fundamental rights. Similar to the protest that Sukma encountered, it was all for a cause. This cause was acknowledged because Malcolm X used his education to understand the bias differences. To a large degree, moreover, the protest allowed people to let go of their differences and come together to fight a bigger cause. Education allows people to spread their knowledge to others and allow them to understand the issues they face. This connects to Sukma's idea that knowledge gives us the ability to take social

Literacy promotes knowledge through reading by broadening information about the outside world. In the book 50 essays, Malcolm X grasps literacy by teaching himself how to read and write through the access of books provided to him at Norfolk County Prison. An example of this would be when Malcolm X began teaching himself by “getting a hold of dictionary”(X 242). It was there he would practice cognitive and linguistic skills by practicing writing and reading words over and over. This eventually helped him build strong vocabulary so he could get his ideas of injustice and inequality across more effectively. Malcolm later progressed and learned about events in history such as black history, philosophy, and human rights. Because, he became increasingly frustrated of not being able to express what he wanted to convey in letters to Elijah Muhammad. Literacy enabled him to broaden his mindset about the world. It also provided him with knowledge and skills by gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing information from different contexts and genres of

In this day and age reading and writing are fundamental functions for everything a person does. Reading is essential for understanding and comprehending warning signs and instructions on a medicine bottle as well as filling out applications. It is important that one knows how to read in order to find a job or to use it for their benefits. Writing is also an important part of anyone’s life. Writing is use as a tool of expression and a basis of which your work will be judged throughout one’s life. The work that one has to put into getting an education is never the best part of an average adult’s life. Today, many people are met with obstacles that prevent them from getting qualifications however, when these obstacles are overcome, an education can be gained by anyone, anytime and anyplace. Nonetheless, for anyone trying to gain an education or higher education, one must be dedicated and have the drive to reach their goals. For Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass, gaining an education was very different for them as it was difficult and it was almost an impossible goal to achieve. Both of these men never stopped working towards their dream of one day learning how to read and write and this should be an example to young adults of today. X and Douglass foreshadowed the difficulty of gaining an education. In this essay, I will described how two individuals of oppression strived to better themselves via education.

Malcolm X was an African American convict who educated himself during his prison sentence. He focused on the study of the civil rights of African Americans. The illumination of Malcolm X began when he went to Charlestown Prison. Behind a string of robberies targeting wealthy whites. Malcolm is often quoted as saying, “It had really begun back in the Charlestown Prison”. (437) He met a man named Bimbi being more knowledgeable than Malcolm X this inspired his self-education. He read every book he could get his hands on. Malcolm X could not understand what he read. Realizing he needed to broaden his vocabulary he