Response to Malcom X, Writing About Writing, pp. 119-127
Help Received: None
Knowledge is power because it gives someone the tools to change the world. As a prisoner off the streets with barely an 8th grade education, Malcom X had very little political influence in the world. Therefore, he was powerless to put an end to the injustices that African-Americans were facing at his time, (although he notes that he was mostly unaware of these injustices as this point in his life). It wasn’t until he became well-versed and knowledgeable about the world he was living in that he began to exercise real power and the ability to make changes. Malcom X shows us that power lies not in the hands of those who are imbued with any special ability, but have the motivation and the drive to better themselves so that they may be able to better their world.
As a well-rounded 21st– century college student, I obviously contain a lot of knowledge. I can tell you the three stages of cell respiration, find the definite integral of a trigonometric function, explain when to use a comma and when to use a semicolon, find the molar mass of water, and compose a simple computer program using the computer language Java. These are all wonderful skills to learn, however one important question still exists: what on earth can I do with these things. This is the knowledge I lack. One may contain all the knowledge in the world, but one must understand how to use it to make a difference, or else they are powerless. This will be important in writing my literary narrative because I need to find out what makes my writing significant to the rest of the world.