Critical Analysis of Malcolm X Learning to Read Essay

Critical Analysis of Malcolm X Learning to Read - Essay Example Malcolm X’s â€Å"Learning to Read† has several important points. In addition to his narrative of how he got his education, Malcolm X’s essay also revealed how he came to be a leader of the black separatist movement that urged black Americans to cut their political, social and economic ties with the white community. The essay â€Å"Learning to Read† emphasized more what it intended to say when it expressed the experience of incredulity of the author’s first attempt to write sensibly. Malcolm X’s first sentence â€Å"It was because of my letters that I happened to stumble upon starting to acquire some kind of a homemade education† beautifully expressed the mindset when the author began his self-education.   Also, the comparison that he â€Å"had been the most articulate hustler out there† yet he â€Å"wasn’t even functional† to write a simple English provided the reader a â€Å"feel† of the difficulty of hi s experience of trying to write. Malcolm X was already an educated man when wrote his essay â€Å"Learning to Read† but he chose to use the analogy â€Å"nearly all the words that might as well have been in Chinese† to depict the colloquial perspective of an uneducated man who was having a hard time understanding the text of the books. We may think that assigning the word â€Å"Chinese† to a written text that is not understood to be wrong but the context of the essay made it appropriate and emphatic.... The usage of a street language â€Å"some kind of homemade education† also emphasized without explaining further what his state of mind was. Also, the comparison that he â€Å"had been the most articulate hustler out there† yet he â€Å"wasn’t even functional† to write a simple English provided the reader a â€Å"feel† of the difficulty of his experience of trying to write. Malcolm X was already an educated man when wrote his essay â€Å"Learning to Read† but he chose to use the analogy â€Å"nearly all the words that might as well have been in Chinese† to depict the colloquial perspective of an uneducated man who was having a hard time understanding the text of the books. We may think that assigning the word â€Å"Chinese† to a written text that is not understood to be wrong but the context of the essay made it appropriate and emphatic. In between his understanding how the white man had oppressed the non-whites, Malcolm X craft ily narrated his journey towards his learning that is engaging to the reader. The narration about how he would sneak past the guard to read during â€Å"lights out† time in prison made the essay more personal and engaging. The emphasis on his painstaking effort to copy the whole library to his tablet and reading it aloud to himself tells that he literally started as ignorant about the written text. Then slowly, his word based broadened and begun to understand the books that he wanted to read. From then on, there was no stopping for him to read and to search further for knowledge. It will be inappropriate to describe that Malcolm X was able to educate himself despite him being in prison. In his words, he was even grateful of his circumstances because it lead him towards erudition, â€Å"prison enabled