A Unconventional Series of Changes
Unafraid of death, Malcom Little lived his life with an increased awareness for the common day. His belief that he would one day die a violent death affected the quality of his life. Malcom learned that change is inevitable, and that in order to live a life of substance a prerequisite is to always be learning. Every day, after his prison education, Malcom lived to impact the culture in which he lived. In his autobiography Malcom said, “Every morning I wake up…I regard as having another borrowed day. I know that societies have often killed the people who have helped to change these societies. And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help destroy the racist …show more content…
Society decided that the color of a child’s skin affected both his intelligence, and ability to do almost anything. The Black Legion, a racist group, killed his father, Earl Little. After his mother took his father’s death badly, the state took her and put her into the mental health ward of a hospital. Malcom went through a series of homes since both his parents were absent. One stop, with the Swerlins, affected the way Malcom saw white people. While the Swerlins treated Malcom superior to how all other white people had treated him, Malcom noticed a strange flaw in the Swerlins. “A hundred times a day they used the word ‘Nigger.’ I suppose in their minds, they meant no harm; in fact they probably meant well…. I remember one day when Mr. Swerlin, as nice as he was, came in from Lansing, where he had been through the Negro section, and said to Mrs. Swerlin right in front of me, ‘I just can’t see how those niggers can be so happy and be so poor.’ And Mrs. Swerlin said, me standing right there, ‘Niggers are just that way’”(Haley 28). Malcom discovered it never even crossed their mind that he was not a pet, but a human being (Haley). One day Malcom’s teacher pulled him aside and asked him a question. “Malcom, you ought to be thinking about a career. Have you been giving it thought?” (Haley 39). When Malcom told the teacher he had been considering becoming a lawyer, the teacher told him that he could not be a lawyer. He proceeded to call Malcom the “N” word, and said Malcom should be a carpenter instead. Malcom said “It was then I began to change-inside” (Haley
Unafraid of death, Malcom Little lived his life with an increased awareness for the common day. His belief that he would one day die a violent death affected the quality of his life. Malcom learned that change is inevitable, and that in order to live a life of substance a prerequisite is to always be learning. Every day, after his prison education, Malcom lived to impact the culture in which he lived. In his autobiography Malcom said, “Every morning I wake up…I regard as having another borrowed day. I know that societies have often killed the people who have helped to change these societies. And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help destroy the racist …show more content…
Society decided that the color of a child’s skin affected both his intelligence, and ability to do almost anything. The Black Legion, a racist group, killed his father, Earl Little. After his mother took his father’s death badly, the state took her and put her into the mental health ward of a hospital. Malcom went through a series of homes since both his parents were absent. One stop, with the Swerlins, affected the way Malcom saw white people. While the Swerlins treated Malcom superior to how all other white people had treated him, Malcom noticed a strange flaw in the Swerlins. “A hundred times a day they used the word ‘Nigger.’ I suppose in their minds, they meant no harm; in fact they probably meant well…. I remember one day when Mr. Swerlin, as nice as he was, came in from Lansing, where he had been through the Negro section, and said to Mrs. Swerlin right in front of me, ‘I just can’t see how those niggers can be so happy and be so poor.’ And Mrs. Swerlin said, me standing right there, ‘Niggers are just that way’”(Haley 28). Malcom discovered it never even crossed their mind that he was not a pet, but a human being (Haley). One day Malcom’s teacher pulled him aside and asked him a question. “Malcom, you ought to be thinking about a career. Have you been giving it thought?” (Haley 39). When Malcom told the teacher he had been considering becoming a lawyer, the teacher told him that he could not be a lawyer. He proceeded to call Malcom the “N” word, and said Malcom should be a carpenter instead. Malcom said “It was then I began to change-inside” (Haley