“Learning to Read” by Malcolm X

This excerpt from the autobiography published 1965 was showing the growth of Malcolm x that never would have happened if he did not go to prison. He was charged for Robbery and was sentenced to 7 years in jail. In those 7 years in jail he observed that he could not write very well or read that well and that the atmosphere in the prison was the more books you read the more educated you were. He began reading the dictionary and from there started writing and educating himself with Elijah Muhammad’s and converted to Muslim. From there he began educating himself more about the hardships that Black people have been through and how as he stated history showed only a white person’s perspective which later led him to become an activist for black people.

My interpretation is that knowledge is power. Malcolm went from being a hustler to an activist because of knowledge. He gained knowledge of history as he stated “The teachings of Mr. Muhammad stressed how history had been “whitened”—when white men had written history books, the black man simply had been left out…I never will forget how shocked I was when I began reading about slavery’s total horror”. Malcolm X was trying to stress how important knowledge and explain how he made such a big transition in life and how he became so educated and that was from books and the amount of books that he read. Another interpretation I got from this excerpt was that if people put their minds to it they can change. Even though in the excerpt it did mention that in the prison Rehabilitation was the main point and inmates that were well versed with books brought approval by many I think this was a reason of why Malcolm X educated himself I think the main reason was to better himself as a person overall by gaining good penship and a large vocabulary.

The purpose of  “Learning to Read’ by Malcolm X was to inform readers of the transition in life he took, what led to it and he showed what he learned during the process. The audience is black people or people that have been to prison or have had similar life experiences of his life before going to prison. He wrote this most likely to show that if you put your mind to something you can achieve it and to show the importance of knowledge. Also to make a point of watered down history was that it was written to show white people as more important and the main focus. 

The rhetorical features that are shown in this excerpt are Pathos and Ethos. Pathos is shown in the beginning of the excerpt that states the background story of how Malcolm X was self taught, converted to being Muslim, and the fact that he was assasinated. Another part that shows Pathos was when he informed us that he barely knew any words and could not even write in a straight line. Ethos is shown in two different ways in this excerpt. The first by showing the authority that the guards have by enforcing lights out and checking up on the prisoners to make sure that they are sleeping. The other way Ethos was shown was when rehabilitation was mentioned and how much the reinforced it in the prisoners that lead to most of them reading books.

This autobiography written by Malcolm X showed how powerful and valuable knowledge is. Which is how I interpreted the excerpt and what I took away from it how useful knowledge is. The purpose of why this autobiography was written was to explain the hardships faced Malcolm X. Based on the excerpt I read Pathos and Ethos was shown. It was also an eye opener in many ways and shows the power of putting your mind to things.

This self assessment essay is to reflect on the semester of this english class. One of the observations I made about my writing skills is that I have a hard time with introductions and I need to focus more on this in the future. I take most my time coming up with what to write in the introduction then any other part. Phase 1 was a very personal essay that made me put more description to help the reader imagine. Phase 2 I had to write a rhetorical analysis essay about one of the readings we had during this semester. Phase 3 was my favorite essay and it was a research essay on a debatable topic and finally Phase 4 was this essay a self assessment essay. All these essays helped me grow as a writer and helped me see where I could improve.

Phase 1 I started getting used to the format of how we were learning. The major thing we did and continued to do for all these phases was an essay. For this face we did a Language and Literacy Narrative where we had to write about a specific time period or a story that includes specific details. My essay was about my struggle with anxiety and how I grew as a person from freshman year through senior year. This essay was very personal and I developed the skill of adding graphic and specific details to make my essay more realistic.

The second Phase was the hardest essay due to formatting and not being used to writing rhetorical essays. It was the essay that I had to search up the most on and when I say this I mean searching up on how to write a rhetorical essay correctly and what needs to be in the essay. There were a lot of different things I had to include like the author, when it was published, who the audience was and the rhetorical strategies involved. For this essay I wrote about the excerpt from Learning how to read by Malcolm X and before I even started writing I wrote bullet points for everything I needed and then separated them into paragraphs so I made sure I didn’t miss anything. What I learned from this essay was how to write a rhetorical essay because before this I had never worked on one.

Phase 3 was my favorite because I got to research a topic I was very interested in which was the Golden age. I love doing research and I love history so I really enjoyed this essay so it came easier to me. The challenge in this essay was the fact that I had to write about a topic that was debatable and my topic even though did not seem like it just briefly looking at it once I started reading became debatable because the way it was described or seen by many was not the whole truth. I learned how to do a different format of research essay from this face.

Phase 4 is the self assessment essay I’m writing right now. This is a topic i have briefly written about for other english classes. We have never been assigned a whole essay to self access so this opens experience to this type of essay now. I think it’s good to self reflect on the writing and to see what I have grown in which is experience and what still needs help in which is introductions in general.

         From as far as I can remember which is kindergarten I can remember having anxiety. I recall getting sick every time I went to school just because I wanted to be in my safe place which was my house. I did not feel comfortable being with people I barely knew and it showed. Now, as time passed you would think it would not be as extreme but it was even though I would not get sick every day I did get sick and had even more anxiety due to the fact that teachers noticed how quiet and shy I was and singled me out a lot due to the fact that even though I did my work participation was very important to them and of course me and public speaking was not a good mix I did participate which they announced it to the class that I did participate but it just made things worse. I picked up a habit where I would not eat food in the morning because I was afraid of throwing up and I still carry that habit with me to this day and all this occurred in 6-8th grade. I had this idea in my mind of being a perfect student since I was too nervous to participate. I had to do everything else and it led to me just stressing myself out. Even when I was not in school during this period of time if I went out to eat with my family or just went out in general I would get sick I guess after embarrassing myself multiple times in public and I got tired of being in my safe place I decided to make a change once I figured out all of my issues were mental.

I started doing breathing exercises when I went outside and I was lucky enough to get better teachers so I was more open with them so I was more comfortable. I started being more open with my opinions and in a way, I would say I started to blossom. I was also preparing myself for highschool, thinking about where I wanted to go and the new people I would meet. I ended up picking a school that was really far from my house at the time I lived in Uptown Manhattan  and I got into a school that was in the Lower East Side. I did this on purpose because the school I attended from 2-8 was across the street from me and I wanted to learn how to take the train and how the subway lines worked. After getting lost in Cchinatown and going on the wrong side of the A train and not noticing until I reached brooklyn I finally started getting the hang of it. I made friends really quick from orientation, talked to almost everyone that was there and started off good. Not only did I develop more into the person I wanted to be but I learned valuable lessons such as not everyone is your friend, people can be fake to you even if they say they are your friends, and to mind my business. After switching through three or four friend groups in a school year Ii decided it was better if I just stayed to myself because it was not working out for me there by May, a transfer student came and that is who I became friends with during my freshman year, I still talk to her to this day even though we both decided this highschool was not the one for us.

I was a new and improved person and much more vocal but I was just in a bad environment where I stopped being my true self so I decided to transfer because it was best for me. Even though City College Academy Of The Arts was not the school I wanted to go to, I had no option. I applied to school very late and all the schools were already full. I would say it was meant to be that I went to this school and it also helped me fully develop into the person I am today. It was the polar opposite to the school I was in freshman year with the rules like having uniform, not being able to use your phones and not being able to wear hoodies. Also, the ethnic groups were different and the layout of the building my previous highschool building was for our school only and city college shares it with another school. I have been friends with the same people since sophomore year and now i’m on my way to being more independent and deciding what college I should go to but this depending on where my parents decide to move.I would say 8th grade through Sophomore year was the time frame that I learned most of my lessons and developed as a person. I am  a senior now and even though I still have anxiety when it comes to little things like talking to people on the phone every other aspect of my anxiety and shyness are no longer with me, I comfortable with public speaking and I can give presentations with no problem I even sometimes enjoy it and my attitude towards things have changed and situations that what have and did affect me in my younger years no longer do and even though my personality has changed and some people have been bothered by it I do not care because I changed for the better.