Micro-Activity # 3: Malcolm X”

Learning to Read by MALCOLM X

“It had really begun back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge. Bimbi had always taken charge of any conversations he was in, and I had tried to emulate him. But every book I picked up had few sentences which didn’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese. When I just skipped those words, of course, I really ended up with little idea of what the book said. So I had come to the Norfolk Prison Colony still going through only book-reading motions. Pretty soon, I would have quit even these motions, unless I had received the motivation that I did.” (paragraph 4)

This paragraph shows that he seriously lacked in reading when he was young. He can only read the words he knows, but in the end, Malcolm X knows nothing about what he reads. He was obsessed with reading in prison because Bimbi, a prison inmate, made him aspire to be so smart. As the last sentence of this paragraph, there is no motivation. Most people’s laziness makes them unable to persist. Bimbi is his motivation for learning. The purpose of Malcolm X is to introduce readers to the difficulties they face and his enlightening journey to gain literacy. And this process will experience problems, frustration, and take a long time.

“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 has 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,… 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.”

Malcolm X’s tone is full of enthusiasm and seriousness. Although Malcolm was unable to attend classes in prison, he still yearned for literacy. He uses all possible resources to educate himself. He chose a dictionary to become his teacher and read all the books he has to do the best of his ability to enhance his power. His education in prison is better than outside. The reading environment made him meditate, and it also allowed him to gain knowledge and read many books to avoid and distract him from the bad things that happened to him.

“This is one reason why Mr. Muhammad’s teachings spread so swiftly all over the United States, among all Negroes, whether or not they became fol­lowers of Mr. Muhammad. The teachings ring true-to every Negro. You can hardly show me a black adult in America – or a white one, for that mat­ter – who knows from the history books anything like the truth about the black man’s role.”

Malcolm X was imprisoned in his mind before he was in prison. When Malcolm X was studying frantically in prison, reading provided him with background knowledge and thinking—also allowed him to look at the problem to a new height. Malcolm X recognizes that reading and writing is not easy. It is difficult for some people to understand, understand, and understand what others are saying. They will not think or use critical thinking to see this society. Throughout global history, African Americans have has been persecuted. So don’t wait for things to happen or someone to help you, but go out and take action and do what you think is necessary to achieve your set goals.