Reading Response to Malcolm X — Deqwan

Part One Picture-Annotated pages
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Sorry for bad hand writing 🙁
Part Two Reading Response

You can see how reading and writing transformed Malcolm X’s life, his growth of knowledge, and his mental state as a black man during this period throughout the text. In the text, Malcolm expresses how learning new information has given him a sense of relief and independence. This can be stated in (Paragraph 8) where it states, “… And my reading of books, months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then I never been so truly free in my life.”. This passage demonstrates that Malcolm enjoys a sense of freedom through reading; even though he is in prison, he escapes through reading, and it is through reading that he expresses the time in his life when he feels utter comfort and freedom. I believe this was a turning point in Malcolm’s life because, after discovering a new love for reading, he was able to convert to Islam, where he felt completely free.

Malcolm’s curiosity and drive to read finally helped him find a sense of purpose, as it led him down a new path. Some individuals would have hated their time in prison, but Malcolm saw it as a blessing since it allowed him to see a new perspective, as he believes that prison was a better environment for him to learn because he had less distractions and more time to study. You can see this in (Paragraph 15), where it states, “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…”. This demonstrates that Malcolm’s passion for reading was so strong that he considered prison to be a better educational experience than any college he could have attended. I believe that this quotation is significant because it essentially reflects who Malcolm X is, and that prison had a major impact on his life since it awoken his “dormant craving to be mentally alive.” (Paragraph 14), as well as his passion for education.

2 thoughts on “Reading Response to Malcolm X — Deqwan”

  1. Hey Deqwan nice paragraphs I’m pretty sure I chose the same quote as you on the first paragraph. I really like how you described Malcolm’s freedom even though he was inprisoned. Just wanted to give you a heads up I don’t actually see your annotations. I’m not sure if its a error or something on my end but I’m letting you know because Mrs. Wu might not see it and might have an impact on your grade.

  2. Good job here using Malcolm X’s exact words “I never been so truly free in my life” to come up with your explanation. You write: Malcolm enjoys a sense of freedom through reading; even though he is in prison, he escapes through reading, and it is through reading that he expresses the time in his life when he feels utter comfort and freedom. Good!

    You could do a better job here with using MX’s words, his exact words, to come up with your explanation. Suggestion to examine more carefully: awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. Explain why he uses words associated with sleep: awoke, dormant. Then what does it mean to be CRAVING to be MENTALLY ALIVE?

    Focus on his exact words to come up with your explanation.

    I can’t see your picture of annotated page!

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