Malcolm X’s "learning to Read" Analysis(a Score of 7

Throughout Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” his tone and attitude frequently changes. Although the emotions are faintly projected, his tone and attitude are caused by a change in his own emotions, which correspond with the beginning, middle, and end of the passage. The essay not only expounds his lack of reading skills while young, it expounds upon the importance of reading to him today. If a thorough assessment is made, he exclaims that reading is important to readers’ lives as it was to his, aiding to shape ones morals and principles. Without the ability to read, a basis for intellect and perception, it becomes increasingly difficult to build your own ethical views.

The diction of Malcolm X is fairly simple, but simultaneously, his use of small strong words and metaphors magnify the excerpt’s power as a whole to the reader. In the quotes “The Parasitic British Administration kept tentacling out to half of the subcontinent,” and “The stage thus set, he then turned upon his non white victims his weapons of war,” he creates metaphors using words the reader likely knows , but also shows the reader that even the most simple minded person can gain knowledge and exert their strength through reading and writing. His diction also projects other things to the reader. In another paragraph he states that colleges have “too much panty raiding, fraternities, and boola” the reader learns that one of greatest hindrances to learning is distractions and without them knowledge can be gained easily. Malcolm’s word use also projects his own views to the reader. His frequent use of the word “white” as a slur tells us his views and tone in itself. “Who in the world’s history ever has played a worse “skin game” than the white man.” During the powerful statements he uses this word in, his callous tone immediately satiates readers causing a feeling of anger to awaken within them. Malcolm X’s diction is filled with many emotions, but the most prominent of them are his anger, passion, and his ability to project them, amongst whole explanations, to the reader.

For the most part Malcolm’s point of view remains consistent throughout the essay, but it also shifts in small ways during the beginning, middle, and end. In the beginning he speaks of his time in prison and how he learned to read. What he states in the beginning reflects his point of view to the reader. By stating that he’s an inmate learning to read, readers gain the impression that at that point in the essay, rather than being Malcolm X, he’s just your average inmate trying to finding his place in the world. During the middle, his point of view is still that of an inmate, but with additional knowledge aiding him in shaping his morals and values. In this section by Malcolm X stating that “an inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books,” and “I was lucky enough to reason also that I should improve my penmanship” the reader ascertains that he is making his transition from being your average inmate with no morals, to the learned activist Malcolm X. In the end, he instills upon the reader that he has obtained morals and become Malcolm X. In the two quotes “if I weren’t out battling the white man,” and “the worlds’ white man indeed acted like devils”, the reader finds out that through