Reading Response to Malcolm X — Balthazar

Part A:

Part B:

“There was a sizeable number of well-read inmates, especially the popular debaters. Some were said by many to be practically walking encyclopedias. They were almost celebrities. No university would ask any student to devour literature as I did when this new world opened to me, of being able to read and understand” (p.11) 

The prison Malcolm X was in had many inmates who like him were heavy readers. He even talks about his friend in prison Bambi who clearly had an impact on inspiring him to read. Some inmates had read so much they became known to be as good as an encyclopedia. By being smart and well read, inmates were treated like celebrities within the prison, this shows that being smart was highly respectable within the prison. The amount of literature Malcolm X read was so large in number not even a university would expect their students to follow suit. Reading and being able to understand the reading allowed Malcolm X to see a new world filled with information.