Malcom X Richard Rodriguez Analysis

Malcom X, Sherman Alexie, and Richard Rodriguez had multiple sponsors helping them in literacy. The largest sponsor they all had in common was themselves. They all pushed themselves to go further than what was expected of them. In Malcom X’s case, he was in prison and became frustrated with inability to express himself in his letters. The stereotype around prisoners is that they are illiterate, just lift weights in the prison yard all day, and then leave prison only to end up back in the prison system a few weeks to months later. This isn’t what Malcom X chose for himself. He chose to study and improve his literacy. Of course, he had other sponsors, such as wherever and whoever he got his books, tablets, pen, and pencils from. Ultimately he …show more content…
Rodriguez’s story surprised me the most, especially the part mentioning him being teased for reading. Here is an excerpt from the part I’m talking about, “My mother would find me reading when I was supposed to be asleep or helping around the house or playing outside. In a voice angry or worried or just curious, she’d ask: ‘What do you see in your books?’ It became the family joke” (Rodriguez 598). One word: wow. After reading that I felt an ache in my chest from my heart shattering to pieces, and despite this being a man that is now very older than myself, I feel myself wanted to hold him. How in the world was he able to keep reading and furthering himself after that? He was very largely his own sponsor of literacy. Another sponsor he does mention are his teachers. He mentions admiring his teacher and even says he planned to become a teacher someday because he “wanted to be like his teachers, to possess their knowledge, to assume their authority, their confidence, even to assume a teacher’s persona” (Rodriguez 604). Teachers did consume a big role in sponsorship in Rodriguez’s life, but it was him who chose to stick to reading and learning instead of detaching himself, like most kids tend to do after being