“I saw that the best thing I could do was to get hold of a dictionary to study, to learn some words. I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship. It was sad. I couldn’t even write in a straight line. It was both ideas together that moved me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfolk Prison Colony school”. page 1 paragraph 3
Malcom wanted to learn how to read and willing to do anything to learn how to read. He even look for a dictionary every time he read a book to look for words he don’t understand. Using the dictionary helped him understands the book better by knowing the meanings of words he didn’t understand. It even helped him how to write and read. Now he loves doing it even in his free time. It just shows how much passion he is to reading and understanding what he reads by using the dictionary, not a lot of people have dictionary next to them when they read a book.
” I don’t think anybody every got more out of going to
prison than I did. In fact, prison enabled me to study far more intensively
than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some
college. I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there
are too many distractions, too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boolaboola and all that. Where else but in prison could I have attacked my
ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen
hours a day”. page 2 paragraph 16
Prison allowed him to study much more intensively than he might have if his life had gone differently and him attended some college. He thinks if he went to college he would have attended parties and be distracted and never be educated. He feels like prison give him a life where he wouldn’t get it at a another place. He is a different person now because of prison, he now knows how to read and write and fully understand what he reads and he even think of himself who can help others with education. Prison was a life changing moment for him in his life.
Hello Sajid, I entirely agree with the fact that Malcolm believes he wouldn’t have studied as intensively if he were to go to a college and get a “traditional” education due to all of the distractions that would have surrounded him.
Good