The Illusion of Knowledge
Vera Nazarian once stated “Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.” Similarly, the book X: A Novel written by Ilyasah Shabazz was a book that I wanted to read as it had characters and a plot I could relate to my own personal experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book as I was able to learn more about social issues and broaden my horizons.
X: A Novel, fits in the genre of historical fiction, providing a mix of something fictional with roots in reality. Personally, I am an avid reader of nonfiction as I actively read newspapers articles and blogs to stay in tune with global issues and developments. I tend to focus on facts and figures, hence, I wanted something
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I became so engrossed in the novel that I quickly read the book in 2 days, sometimes reading on the bus home and staying up late. As a result, I caught all of the main plot points but missed minor nuances such as character interactions and Malcolm’s inner monologues. This caused me to reread the novel in order to fill in the gaps in the plot. This kind of ruined the novel for me as I already knew the overall plot, so it felt like a chore to read the novel again. For example, I knew of the impending arrest of Malcolm, which ruined the biggest plot twist of the novel. The novel was an eye opener as I gained a new understanding of the social justice issue that prevails in society: racism. We hear about large scale acts of discrimination such as carding or police brutality on a regular basis but we never learn about small systemic barriers that restrict racial minorities everyday. We see an example of this when Malcolm’s teacher tells him that he is not capable of being a lawyer because he is “just a n*****”. Hearing this from his favourite teacher shatters hope, drive and perseverance for Malcolm to pursue his dream and also acts as a catalyst for him to drop out. Malcolm accepts society's predetermined role for him and refuses to challenge the status quo. In order to survive, he resorts to illegal activities. In conclusion, I picked X: A Novel with careful consideration and I
Besides the author’s writing style, the plot of this book was very interesting and sad. Jamal’s older brother was in jail due to murder and his mother is a single parent that has to work nearly 24 hours a day to support Jamal and his
This book is great for people who enjoy gore, suspense and a little romance. If you love to see good character cooperation and the characters in a lot of life or death situations where you really don’t know if they’ll make it or not this is the book for you. This books also shows that even the underdogs can still make a difference, and that gives us hope in life when there seems to be nothing left. Again if you love gore, suspense and a little bit of romance this is the perfect book for you, you won’t be
Richard Wright and Malcolm X are two African Americans that struggled so much in the pursuit of knowledge in other to gain power and figure. Richard wright is from Natchez, Mississippi; he was in the south around the year 1925 and worked for the white men helping them get books from the library. During the process of obtaining books for the white men, he wants to read and know of the black history. Malcolm X is from Omaha, Nebraska, he was in prison for burglary, during his time in prison then came the passion for knowledge and he wants to build his vocabulary on how to speak, and write letters appropriately to Mr. Elijah Muhammad. Richard wright becomes motivated when he comes across an article that made mention of H. L. Mencken being a fool and wants to know the reason for such a saying, Richard wrights’ difficulties was how to get a library card without cut reading the novel of H. L. Mencken. Richard Wright becomes transformed greatly not only has his vocabulary improved but had known a great deal of black history. Malcolm X is motivated to read so he can write good letters to Mr. Elijah Muhammad. His difficulties was learning how to read, write and himself not having enough time to read because the lights had to go off and they were watched by a moving guard, he becomes transformed by studying the dictionary to improve his knowledge of vocabulary in reading, speaking and writing good letters to Mr. Elijah Muhammad.
X by Ilyasah Shabazz is set in the mid 1900’s before equal rights laws were passed and an extremely difficult time for Black America. The book starts in a small town in Michigan called Lansing where the main character, Malcolm Little, who is described as a poor teenager in a large family. Malcolm is independent and introverted in the beginning. The book soon explains that Malcolm lost his father early in Malcolm’s life causing Malcolm to be a natural leader. Malcolm gets out of his home town as soon as he can moving to Boston, Massachusetts with his step sister Anna in hopes to become a new man. In Boston, Malcolm makes friends with a character named Shorty. Shorty leads Malcolm around a suburb of Boston called Roxbury. Malcolm gets a new name,
I would recommend this book because it shows all the aspects of life and never makes you bored like other books that waste so much time describing something little and doesn’t get on with anything. This book is appropriate for teenagers and young adults as it has some inappropriate things and ideas like the rape case. This book links to my life by showing how racism is a concerning case like what’s happening now in many countries in the world not just about race but about religion and opinions. It also links to my life when I do things early and I get in trouble for that even though I’ve done something right not
The main argument here is that the knowledge represents for me the basis of my values, from which I learned most things, which in return guided me to the other good values like the honesty, responsibility and accountability. I highly believe that the knowledge is the major source of all other good
The reason I chose this book was because the title jumped up at me and my curiosity was aroused. I wanted to find out more about it. I was also drawn to the fact that the book was based on a true story. True stories interest me a lot and I instantly knew that I wanted to read this book. I also noticed that the book was a best seller and sold thousands of copies. As I read this book I’m glad that I choose it because it broadened my perspective on racism and the lengths that an individual is willing to go to in order to personally experience or understand a situation. This book has clearly
As most of you may know by now, I have chosen to do a book analysis on the novel; Jasper Jones by Western Australian named Craig Silvey. This book has been the winner of many awards such as the 2010 ABIA Book of the Year, the INDIE Book of the year in 2009 and has also been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2010. In my opinion Jasper Jones is a book that encapsulates various elements from the thrillers of a safe-guarded murder to being excluded from a community with bigoted and derogatory views. The novel gives us an insight into the perspective of a quiet, precocious and Harper Lee like-minded -‘Charlie Bucktin’ who has mutual relationships with many interrelated individuals
This book was filled with passages and quotes that made a lasting impression on me not only for the content they contained but also the way that they were written. One passage that really stuck with me was the bottom passage on pages 202-203. This passage left an impression on me for many reasons but mainly because it described such violent events that happened in Chicago that I never knew about which was quite a wake up call. I did not even know that race riots ever happened in Chicago and to find out that they were as violent and deadly as they were shocked me quite a bit. Now a days, I never hear anyone talking about the race riots that happened in Chicago which is surprising because by looking back at those times in our history it shows how much our society has grown and improved. These race riots changed the course of Chicago's history which is why it is surprising to me that I have never even heard of them before.
People often become angry at themselves when they are unable to do something; this leads to frustration and then a choice they have to make: giving up or stubbornly continuing it. Malcolm X was also in a situation like that during his time in prison. He never finished his education in reading or writing and tried to learn how to read and write which it was hard for him, but he still continue to learn to those skills. In Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read”, despite being a prisoner, he decides to learn how to read and write making use of his time in prison in order to learn more about the world than continuing to be ignorant.
It's a lyrical book, and a rage-filled one, and its angry poetry makes it all the more compelling. Coates returns again and again to certain touchstones: his father, his time at Howard University (a largely black university in DC), his experiences with black people who had attained bourgeois respectability, the "dream" of white, middle-class America, and his all-consuming fear as a black man in America that the state, the police, could take his freedom or his life. This fear is at the center of the message he wants to convey to his son. He wants his son to understand it, to be cautioned by it, to refuse to let it tame him, but to never forget it and put himself in needless risk. It's an agonizing conundrum, and agonizingly told, and viscerally conveyed. Coates rips away the cliches of the discussion of race in America and goes for nuance and contradiction over easy answers. It's a revolutionary manifesto, a love note from a father to a son, and a long and glorious tale all in one. listened to Coates read the book in a DRM-free audiobook edition, and I thoroughly recommend it. Hearing a memoir read by its author, especially one with such a fine reading voice, is surely the best way to experience
Throughout the course of the book, Malcolm X is portrayed as a man who shifted in his own understanding, as well as his interpretation of how African Americans and whites existed in America. In the early years, Malcolm X was seen as a force pulling America apart. However, just prior to his death, Malcolm X started to see that the entire white race
However, this anger presented in the novel is not a negative one. The characters are about to burst out of it and as result they will seek improving their conditions and fighting against this inhumane treatment. Many people agree on the fact that the novel is greatly about anger. For instance, Malcolm Cowely believes that the novel is one among the “great angry books that have the power to spur readers on to protest and action.” ( Cowely, American Tragedy p.382-383)
The only thing in my life that I can be positive about is change. Everything changes, from the moment we’re born to the moment we die. Reality has many twist and turns, and our perception of reality is what shapes us to become who we are. Our life is spent on deciphering the difference between reality and not reality. This is hard to define because reality is unique to each individual.
We live in a strange and puzzling world. Despite the exponential growth of knowledge in the past century, we are faced by a baffling multitude of conflicting ideas. The mass of conflicting ideas causes the replacement of knowledge, as one that was previously believed to be true gets replace by new idea. This is accelerated by the rapid development of technology to allow new investigations into knowledge within the areas of human and natural sciences. Knowledge in the human sciences has been replaced for decades as new discoveries by the increased study of humans, and travel has caused the discarding of a vast array of theories. The development of