Learning to Read
Malcom X
1) Generally speaking, people start off learning to read at a young age. They primarily attend school, where they are taught with images and words in which they learn to formulate small sentences at a time. They are given “beginners” vocabulary which begins to advance with one’s cognitive understanding, age, and grade.
Malcom X learning to read was very different from the norm. He was self-taught while residing in prison with no prior knowledge of vocabulary. “But every book I picked up had few sentences which didn’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese.” (X, 2004, p246) .After much struggle, Malcom decided the best solution for him to learn how to read was …show more content…
Both going through similar struggles because of the limitations put on them through their race, both men describes how they suffered from a “mental darkness” that they could only heal through learning how to read. They lived in a time where it was believed that education was incompatible with which they were. (Douglas, 2004, p101). They both took on this challenge with intense passion to acquire the knowledge they wanted beyond whatever barriers that would come their way. They saw what power they could possess with the new language they had obtained. They realized the effect reading already took on their lives and was awed by the opportunities and vistas it granted them. From their readings they each learned of the heartache and pain that their people endured. “The Columbian Orator” opened up Douglas’s mind to the barbaric acts towards slaves, that made him hate his enslavers even more, but it also gave him the idea to one day try to run away and free himself. Malcom took on books such as “Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B Dubois that let him acknowledge slavery and the struggle for freedom among his people. It helped him become a more profound public speaker and human rights
Malcom X
1) Generally speaking, people start off learning to read at a young age. They primarily attend school, where they are taught with images and words in which they learn to formulate small sentences at a time. They are given “beginners” vocabulary which begins to advance with one’s cognitive understanding, age, and grade.
Malcom X learning to read was very different from the norm. He was self-taught while residing in prison with no prior knowledge of vocabulary. “But every book I picked up had few sentences which didn’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese.” (X, 2004, p246) .After much struggle, Malcom decided the best solution for him to learn how to read was …show more content…
Both going through similar struggles because of the limitations put on them through their race, both men describes how they suffered from a “mental darkness” that they could only heal through learning how to read. They lived in a time where it was believed that education was incompatible with which they were. (Douglas, 2004, p101). They both took on this challenge with intense passion to acquire the knowledge they wanted beyond whatever barriers that would come their way. They saw what power they could possess with the new language they had obtained. They realized the effect reading already took on their lives and was awed by the opportunities and vistas it granted them. From their readings they each learned of the heartache and pain that their people endured. “The Columbian Orator” opened up Douglas’s mind to the barbaric acts towards slaves, that made him hate his enslavers even more, but it also gave him the idea to one day try to run away and free himself. Malcom took on books such as “Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B Dubois that let him acknowledge slavery and the struggle for freedom among his people. It helped him become a more profound public speaker and human rights