Malcolm X’s Journey into Literacy
ERH 101, Section 1
Date Due: 13 July 2018
Date Sub: 13 July 2018
Paper No. 2
Help Received:
Savanah Diamond for class notes
Emily Hattman for citation help
Peer Review from Cedric and Seth
LTC. Ticen, PhD for thesis notes
Works Cited
Urie N. Conis
Malcolm X and Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, features an essay in which Malcolm describes his endeavors to read, and the result of his acquisition of such a skill. Malcolm X begins his narration with his motivation, letters. Specifically letters to Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam and an inspiration to Malcolm, and the frustration that came with his illiteracy. His journey to become an autodidact has strange beginnings, and he talks of how it all began, in Charlestown Prison. Whilst locked away, he took it upon himself to read and understand a wide variety of vocabulary, and he approached this tremendous task by transcribing a dictionary. Through his pursuit of knowledge, he was able to transform his prison into a school of literacy and thought. He passed a mental test of endurance and acclimated to a position of new found intelligence. With these skills, he researched the atrocities of the white world, and systematically debunked white myths.
Learning to read is an excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcom X, narrated by Malcolm, written by Alex Haley, and published by Grove Press in 1965, a few years before the conflict in Vietnam. The passage is a recollection of Malcolm’s journey to become a man of literacy and is a stage for him to demonstrate his effectiveness with pathos to appeal to his community and target audience, black Americans, and his ability to acquire ethos without a degree, ultimately demonstrating his capability in rhetoric. It was written during the height of segregation and the civil rights movement, and Malcolm’s resentment of the white man could possibly be attributed to such circumstances. Such times no doubt gave cause to X’s motivation to have an autobiography written on his life. These were the days when such prominent individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King were taking actions in the name of civil rights. Malcolm wanted equal rights, but was less interested in civil disobedience, unlike Martin Luther King. Malcolm X was often known for being a counterpart to King, in part by his more radical approach to the acquisition of equality for people of color. “By any means necessary” is a phrase he was known to use, and thus his reputation of negativity began to emerge. He was a member of the Nation of Islam, a membership which would ultimately culminate in his assassination in 1965. Malcolm X had grown weary of the teachings of the Nation of Islam and of Elijah Muhammed, and began looking towards new organizations, an action that would invoke the ire of some of his former group members. He left the Nation of Islam to found the Organization of Afro-American Unity and was then killed by three members of his previous clique, shooting him numerous times during a conference.
The passage begins with Malcolm going to prison, and initiating conversations with Elijah Muhammed, through daily letters. He talks of the prison lifestyle, of dodging guard patrols in the night, simply to read. “You would be astonished to know how worked up convict debaters and audiences would get over subjects like ‘Should Babies Be Fed Milk?’” (109). The inmates at the prison valued intelligence and debate, which would go a long way to help him read and learn in the penal environment. Once his proficiency had reached the level he deemed to be satisfactory, he began to read works in the interest of researching and helping persons of color. He talks of the woes of the earth, and how white men are a plague on international society. “… the white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown, red, and yellow peoples every variety of the sufferings of exploitation.” (111). He is particularly passionate about the horrors and tribulations that were encountered by black slaves before the days of emancipation. By recounting all these atrocities that the white man inflicted, he helps to turn his fellow black Americans into inquisitive thinkers and instigators of change. He enumerates the many books that led him to this state of enlightenment, and how his perspective changed throughout his time in prison. After much deliberation, he finally finishes the passage by talking about how he could never have achieved the level of success he had if he attended college. Prison allowed him the isolation and space he needed to focus, without distractions. He would study for up to 15 hours a day, and quietly contemplate the words he had learned. This tenacity and determination bore the fruit of his intelligence.
Malcolm relies heavily on his use of pathos in his rhetorical approach to the narration. His language is powerful, and sometimes daunting and alienating to white folk and persons such as myself when he describes his lamentations with the white race. “The world’s most monstrous crime, the sin and the blood on the white man’s hands, are almost impossible to believe.” (111). It his tone and explicit hatred of white people that drives away so many whites away, and to those that are not baffled at the sight of such rage, a feeling of distress and uneasiness is evoked. Though he may disparage members of the white race, it is all in the name of retribution. His target audience are the black Americans of the time, and they likely could empathize with his endeavors. He appeals to the common suffering he shares with them, and bolsters their discontent towards the white man. He devotes a great deal of time speaking of the horrors of the white man. He admires Nat Turner, who took a band of fellow slaves and slew the white families living upon the local plantations. “…white man raped China at a time when China was trusting and helpless.” (112). He mocks white evangelists who traveled to China to disrupt order and cause an opium crisis, calling them “Christian traders” with quotation to make the reader ponder the true motivation for their travels. He tells of an ensuing “skin game” that would be a result of international disdain for the white world. As his verbal attacks on the white race become ever more targeted, and he becomes ever more frustrated with the position of his folk. For he even mocks members of his own race, calling the blacks of America deaf, dumb, and blind, unable to see the predicament that afflicts them. Through his ascension of literacy, he has transcended the imbeciles who cannot see the mistreatment they must endure and who are desensitized to such atrocities. He is able to effectively speak on behalf of these issues that once plagued our country due to his hardship and experience. He grew up with little and was destined for hardship based simply on the color of his skin. His position led him to the criminal life from which he partook, and to the organization that would later kill him. It is from this time of strife that he is able to conjure up such disdain and hatred for the white race.
In his writing, he also tends to mix facts in to help garner a deeper meaning to his claims. He is especially keen to doing this when trying to disenfranchise the white man. He reads book after book in order to formulate a list of grievances performed by whites and chastises the race heavily on the subject. “…the whole world’s white men had indeed acted like devils, pillaging and raping and bleeding and draining the whole world’s non-white people.” (111). This quotation is in regards to the information he read about in Herodotus, and the histories of many nations who had fallen to the white plight. He talks of recessive and dominant traits in genealogy from Gregor Mendel’s Findings in Genetics and claims that early man would have in no doubt been of the color black. “… but starting with a white man, you could never produce a black man — because the white gene is recessive. And since no one disputes that there was but one Original Man, the conclusion is clear.” (110). It is through these rhetorical approaches to speech that Malcolm X is able to demonstrate his effectiveness in the subject.
In the essay, he speaks of how an English writer called him on the phone, requesting his alma mater. Malcolm X dropped out of school in the eighth grade and was a known-offender. How could one with such a wretched and criminal past possibly possess the level of literacy he had come to bear. To accredit his himself he relied on the many books and novels he read in prison to prove his wisdom. The novels he read are his ethos, his credentials. Without a degree, he relied completely on the content and difficulty of the material he read. Works such as Findings in Genetics, Outline of History, and Story of Civilization demonstrated his prowess in the literary field. He studied Findings in Genetics in particular as a means to back up and formulate a thesis for why the first men to walk the earth must have been of the black race. These are no simple reads, and he did not read lightly. To be able to speak in regard to such works, and understand, is a feat no ordinary criminal could accomplish. However, he still could never reach the position or status that is entailed with a university degree. He can talk the talk, but in modern society, professionals need a clear indicator of one’s ability, and a degree is one such indicator. This sad truth of life is a reason for Malcolm’s success with common people, and with those of low social status. His ethos changes his appeal from race, to class. For poverty can be found in societies of any color, alongside the inability to find true success without education. His success is an inspiration to the poor, whereas his hardship is an inspiration to members of his race.
Throughout his essay, Malcolm X is able describe his endeavors to become an eloquent reader, and how he was able to use those skills to further civil rights. He uses his pathos and ethos to belittle the status of white folk and dethrone them from their position of grandeur. He guides his audience through his work, and presents his ideas with complexity, yet resolves them with simplicity. Thus, he is able to appeal to the manifold backgrounds from which his audience may originate.
Works Cited
“Malcolm X.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 July 2018, en.wipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm
X.
X, Malcolm and Alex Haley. “Learning to Read.” Writing About Writing: A College Reader,
edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011, pg. 106-114.
Originally published in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1965