Homework 5: “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X
GENRE:
INTENDED AUDIENCE:
PURPOSE:
- What did you think of this text? Explain!
- What is it mostly about? Write a 2-4 sentence summary. Be specific. Refer to the text itself. Use quotes even!
- What motivated Malcolm X to learn to read?
- What does Malcolm X mean when he said from his prison cell, “I had never been so truly free in my life?”
- Why do you think Malcolm X wrote this article? Who do you think is his intended audience?
- How is Malcolm X’s literacy narrative similar to or different from those of Tan and Vargas?
GENRE: Biography
INTENDED AUDIENCE: People of his community
PURPOSE: spread a message
1.The article “Learning to Read by Malcolm X was a good text because it talked about his life, what he went through, and how he educated himself.
2.The article “Learning to Read by Malcolm X is about how Malcolm X changes his life while serving his time in jail. during the time Malcolm X was reading bookings.”I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold a dictionary to study to learn some words.I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship”
3.Malcolm X was motivated to learn to read because he received a letter while he was serving his time in jail from Elijah Muhammad.
4.Malcolm X meant when he said from his prison cell,”I had never been so truly free in my life.” While Malcolm X was serving his time, he was still learning new things he was reading every day.
5.The purpose Malcolm X wrote this article because he wants people to know his story and the challenges that he his faces. The intended audience includes all types of people.
6.In my opinion, the literary narrative I was reading is completely different from this article. This article was talking about how he turned his life around and got educated at the same time.
The text, “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X was somewhat interesting. The text provided the story of Malcolm X’s life while imprisoned and how he used his time there. Certain parts of the text were somewhat confusing to follow through, but the way he wrote this text was also captivating in terms of how practicing reading and writing had an impact in his life.
Malcolm X discusses how he was able to teach himself a skill that he was able to acquire while he was in prison due to the ample amount of time he had in prison, being able to write in ‘proper’ English. Malcolm X wanted to express himself properly and in order to do this, he had to read many forms of text to get comfortable and adjust to ‘proper’ English and not slang, which is what he was used to. “Many who today hear me somewhere in prison, or on television, or those who read something i’ve said, will think i went to school far beyond eight grade. This impression is due entirely to my prison studies”. This quote goes to show that he was able to teach himself how to articulate what he wants to say from the time he had spent reading in prison.
Malcolm X wanted to be able to read and write properly so he can use these skills to express himself the way he wants to be heard and understood. “I became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what i wanted to convey in letters that I wrote, especially those to Mr. Elijah Muhammad”. The frustration Malcolm X experienced motivated him to read and practice writing in order to understand the basics and express himself the way he wants to be heard.
When Malcolm X says, “I had never been so truly free in my life” from his prison cell, he was trying to express how reading, writing and practicing this daily at any free time he had, created a healthy distraction that he didn’t didn’t think of the time he was serving while he was in prison. Reading and writing was an outlet for Malcolm X that allowed him to educate himself through the process of practicing daily.
I believe Malcolm X wrote this article for those who are also struggling to push themselves to do something they’ve always wanted to do. Malcolm X was able to self teach himself the ‘proper’ way to express himself through the English language by reading and practicing writing at any given chance he gets. Although imprisoned, he never used this as an excuse to not achieve this goal. In fact, being imprisoned allowed him to have all the time in the world to be able to read and practice writing. He never thought of this act as a chore and genuinely enjoyed the time he used practicing.
Malcolm X’s literacy narrative is similar to those of Tan and Vargas because they were all able to demonstrate how English and being able to understand, read and write had a major impact in their life. Vargas and Malcolm X illustrate that through hard work and persistence, they can achieve what they believe in. Tan and Malcolm X illustrate that their knowledge of being able to read and write proper English can have an impact in one’s life.
1) i really liked how he explains and tells us his journey through his lifetime and what he went through and also explains to us how he equated himself alone.
2) in the article “learning to read” by Malcom X shows how Malcom was able to teach himself how to read and talk English property while serving his time in prison. Malcom also explains how it changed his life, he writing got better, his english got better etc. he had s dictionary that he read everything which was a healthy way to distract himself and learn something new while being locked up in one room
3)since Malcom was receiving letters from Elijah Mohammed, he wanted to write better to him so reading the dictionary was able to improve his skills for writing letters back.
4)what Malcom X meant when saying “i had never been so truly free in my life”, he meant while being in jail he learned new things like reading and writing. This improved and changed him and also educated him.
5)what Malcom X wants to show is that he faced challenges while serving jail time and wants people to know no matter where you are, or what you are going through, you can change yourself for the better.
6)i think it’s different because Malcom X shows how being in jail and reading a dictionary and learning how to write changed his while life around. But it is similar because they talk about speaking English.
The text was nice it shows not only how perseverance and dedication can help you achieve many things.Malcom X who got arrested and put jail decided to educate himself to learn how to express himself in the proccess MalcomX used the dictionary and thought himself evry word how to read them… and use them in the right environments, he had become articulate because all he knewn was Slangd and hood language but now he has learn how properly express himself anywhere.Malcom wanted to elevate his reading because of frustration he gain from not being able to express his pov towards Mr.Muhammad therefore he took the initiative and learned how to do so.MalcomX felt freedom being able to express himself altough he was in jail he gain freedom because he knewn how to speak. MalcomX wrote this piece of writing because it is always great to show learning experiences to your audience who may have not experienced the same thing or maybe because you of achieving success in being free to speak he shares a formula on how to succeed not by going to jail but by reading a dictionary to understand every word. MalcomX text is unique to Vargas and tan because he talks about a rise to success and him achieving success while on the other hand the other story’s where simply bad experiences.
1) I enjoyed this piece because it shows his dedication as well as a reflection of his experiences.
2)In this piece, we read the story of how Malcolm changed his life in prison. He committed a robbery which lead him to serve 7 years. During the duration of his sentence, Malcolm discovered the power of reading and self educating himself.
3) Malcolm wanted to speak and write in proper english. This was due to the influence he had from wanting to write properly to Elijah Mohammed. He was receiving letters from Elijah; he became “increasingly frustrated” because he wanted to express what he wanted to say in proper english in his letters back to Elijah.
4) Malcolm felt truly free because he was gaining education and speaking/writing in proper english can feel like a different language to some. He felt accomplished.
5) Malcolm wrote this article to represent true resilience because all though he was in prison, he felt truly free because he gained a new skill/education. His intended audience can be anyone who struggles with speaking proper english.
6) Malcolm’s story differs from Tan & Vargas because his story is about learning proper english in difficult circumstances while Tan’s story has to deal with her mother’s struggle with the language barrier and Vargas’ story is about him struggling with being an illegal immigrant.
I think this text was really interesting, something that captivated me within this article is despite being articulate in street language to the point that it commanded people he wasn’t truly able to express himself when it came to writing, he imagined himself writing in slang but he believed that is wasn’t suitable, this emphasizes the difference between people’s personal English and the standard way of English and how it can affect how people write.
This article is about Malcolm x journey as a reader and how his passion for learning to read led him to understand the oppression of what black people went through. It’s about how him constantly reading books led him to understand how the educational system about black people were distorted and him reading certain books led him to understand history it highlights. It also highlights his approach of trying to learning standard English was also a factor to him understanding books and uncovering the truth about history as well.
What influenced Malcolm X to read so much was someone he knew at prison named bambii, Malcolm was jealous of bambii knowledge and how he presented himself in conversations, upon this Malcolm attempted to emulate him by reading books.
I think what Malcolm meant by the quote “I had never been so truly free in my life?” is that after all the hard work of writing and reading words down through the dictionary which added up to a million words definitely paid off, as he initiated to read books he couldn’t understand anything because he wasn’t familiar with most of the words, but scouring and reflecting over the dictionary aid him in understanding the books he read. He was happy he could constantly read books and was free from the restraint of not understanding it.
The intended audience for this article is for anyone who may struggle with reading and writing and are interested in these topics of oppression and education. he raises awareness of the struggles of the oppression of the black American people and also covered struggles of china as well, he also centered around the importance of his journey of struggle of writing and reading. He’s writing this for the purpose of advocating for people to educate themselves and to find a passion towards reading and writing.
I really loved this text, It has been and inspiration for me to open a dictionary and learn a few words and incorporate the words into my speech. This text was about Malcolm X and his experience with literacy, initially he would read a book and their would be some words he did not understand and through that frustration it has pushed him to read a dictionary. As he read the dictionary he learnt more and more words and digested the meaning of all of them, as he turned more pages he became more and more excited about the progress he was making. Through expanding his literacy he became more intrigued with learning more about his history and uncovering things that most were not aware to. What Malcolm X meant by “I had never been so truly free in my life” is that learning how to read and learning more about his history has allowed his mind to become free, their are no restraints to his knowledge. With his newfound love of reading he could possibly learn about anything he wanted to and the thing is no one could take that knowledge away from him, even oppressed and he was free.
e. This piece, which is a part of Malcolm X’s autobiography, was written by him in order to relate his own path of self-education, the pursuit of knowledge, and change. His target demographic consists of those who are curious about his life experience as well as more general topics such as racial disparity and individual development.
f. While the literacy narratives of Amy Tan and Jose Antonio Vargas share certain similarities with Malcolm X’s literacy narrative, as discussed in the excerpt “Learning to Read,” there are also substantial variations between the three. Malcolm X, much like Amy Tan and Jose Antonio Vargas, struggled with finding the right words to adequately convey himself through language. In the beginning, he had trouble writing in English, which made him feel inadequate and frustrated. The story of Malcolm X stands out due to the cultural milieu in which it was told. In the middle of the 20th century, African Americans were subject to a great deal of racial prejudice and oppression, and he had to learn how to negotiate that environment. This environment had a significant impact on both his quest for reading and the development of his views.
1 i like this article because it talks about Malcolm x and everything he went through and how he got educated
2 This text is about how Malcolm underwent a transformative journey while incarcerated. Initially imprisoned for a robbery that resulted in a seven-year sentence, he utilized his time behind bars to explore the profound impact of reading and engaged in self-education.
3 Malcolm was motivated to learn how to read because He recognized that mastering these skills would empower him to communicate in a manner that truly reflected his thoughts and allowed him to be heard and understood as he desired.
4. What he meant was that even in this cell, he was still learning new things
5 he wrote this article to tell his story and share the difficulties he faced; his intended Audience is anyone
6 i think it’s different because Malcolm talks about learning to read and changing his life, while Tan&Vargas talk about learning English
1 i like this article because it talks about Malcolm x and everything he went through and how he got educated
2 This text is about how Malcolm underwent a transformative journey while incarcerated. Initially imprisoned for a robbery that resulted in a seven-year sentence, he utilized his time behind bars to explore the profound impact of reading and engaged in self-education.
3 Malcolm was motivated to learn how to read because He recognized that mastering these skills would empower him to communicate in a manner that truly reflected his thoughts and allowed him to be heard and understood as he desired.
4. What he meant was that even in this cell, he was still learning new things
5 he wrote this article to tell his story and share the difficulties he faced; his intended Audience is anyone
6 i think it’s different because Malcolm talks about learning to read and changing his life, while Tan&Vargas talk about learning English
-This text is great, goes over the life of Malcom X, what it was like to be him.
-The text is about how Malcom X went out of his way to acquire information, knowledge, he had taught himself many things and learned a lot while in prison. He really had pushed himself into educating himself.
-Malcom X was motivated to learning to read since he could communicate the way he wanted to.
-Malcom X when he said “I had never been so truly free in my life” is talking about how he picked up on skills that made him acquire more knowledge.
-Malcom X wrote this article to discuss his own self education, how he learned over the course of time in prison. The intended audience are people that are interested within themselves, what kind of skills they can acquire.