I suppose it was inevitable that as my word base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who had read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: From then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge. Between Mr. Muhammad’s teachings, my correspondence, my visitors–usually Ella and Reginald– and my reading of books, months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.
As you can imagine, especially in a prison where there was heavy emphasis on rehabilitation, an inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books. There was a sizable 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.
I read more in my room than in the library itself. An inmate who was known to read a lot could check out more than the permitted maximum number of books. I preferred reading in the total isolation of my own room.
I chose paragraph 10 written by Malcolm X because reading open up a new world that he could never imagine. He read books to gain knowledge and distract him from the fact that he was in jail. Even though he was in jail his mind was free to learn and every chance he could get he would read to get escape. In paragraph 11 rehabilitation in prison for an inmate shows the prisoner is willing to change for the better and that’s the best image to show. The more reading he did in paragraph 12 gave him access to more books which gave him all the power that he needed to a world of understanding of all different kinds of literature.
