Malcom X felt he was free even though he was in prison because knowledge is power and he use it properly. Malcom x didn’t let nothing stop him, he needed to express himself and went for it. By learning to read and write Malcom X was able to reach a bigger population. He washable to write articles about his beliefs and speak in large groups about his ideologies. Freedom and Literature are more related than what people think. Literature is where people feel free to express themselves. There is freedom of speech which means people have the freedom to say whatever they want. So literature its a way to express someones freedom of speech. Literature also maintained freedom between writers and readers. Malcom was proud to obtain knowledge in prison because that’s where he learn that it was time to take a stand. “It was both ideas together that moved me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfolk prison colony school” He continued practicing until he perfected his writing and pronunciations. The dictionary was the power tool that got him to understand everything. “I was so fascinated that I went on” this sentence proves he was enthusiastic about learning. In prison there’s  a lot of down time and Malcom was productive by learning how to read and write in prison.  It was clear that Malcom was a determined and a hard working person by the technique he used to learn how to read and write.

The way literature connects people such as writers and readers or readers and readers is through freedom. Malcom comments on how images who read where debaters and considered celebrities. ” An inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books.” Which is why he preferred to read in his room isolated from the others.  I believe that prison was life changing for Malcom. This quote verifies my statement, ” I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life.” Not only that but prison gave him the time and resources he didn’t have available. For Malcom kit was more about how he got there than what he got out of it. He learned how to make the best out of a situation.

What the narrative suggests about the relationship between literature and freedom is that through literature you are able to gain a sense of freedom no matter where you are. Before going to prison Malcolm X did not know how to read or write. He envied people who knew how to read because that was something he could not do himself. In his autobiography, Malcolm X states that “…Bimbi first made [him] envy of his stock of knowledge”. In prison was when Malcolm X was able to learn how to read and write. He spent almost all his free time reading books and would not sleep much because he was so invested in reading. In his autobiography X states ” I would read for another fifty-eight minutes… three or four hours of sleep a night was enough”. Because of reading Malcolm X was able to acquire new knowledge about the world that he had not known before. He was able to become more aware of the issues in America affecting the black race during that time period. Through reading, Malcolm X was also able to discover a new world of literature. In the reading, he says ” No university would ask any student to devour literature as I did when this new world opened to me, of being able to read and understand”. The irony behind Malcolm X’s ability to feel free because of literature while being in prison is that before being in prison Malcolm X had never set it upon himself to learn and this homemade education sort of gave him a new meaning of life.

Even though Malcolm X was incarcerated, he was still able to educate himself further in the English language. It’s amazing how he rewrote the entire dictionary and taught himself how to read it correctly and fluently. It goes to show how free minded he was and even though he was incarcerated, he was still determined to learn new things and expand his mind. Malcolm X while incarcerated still felt free within himself and within his own mind. Malcolm X did say “I never had been so truly free in my life” because even though he was incarcerated, he was free mentally and was able to still receive new knowledge every single day he was reading. Doing this helped him to achieve his goals and he got the most out of his experience in prison more than anyone else. Malcolm X said “I don’t think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did” which was a true statement because he changed his whole life and his way of thinking while being incarcerated and by educating himself. In prison too it was much easier for him to learn as much as he did because there weren’t any distractions as supposed to college he said. Malcolm X said “I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with college is there are too many distractions, too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that. Where else but in prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day.” He was never distracted and was always able to focus and take care of his business no matter the circumstances. What this narrative suggests about the relationship between literature and freedom is that being able to focus and equip new knowledge can help you to free your mind and reach goals that you never thought could be reached. Malcolm X no matter his situation was determined and focused on enlightening himself and he opened his mind and educated himself while incarcerated. He was only able to do that because even though he wasn’t free literally, he was free mentally which helped him to become who he was truly meant to be. Literature helped him to become more free than he ever felt in his entire life. 

Even though Malcolm X was incarcerated, he learned how to read and write fluently. Bimbi’s knowledge gave Malcolm the motivation to learn how to read and write efficiently. Malcolm states, “It had really begun back in the Charlestown Prison when Bambi just made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge. Bimbi had always taken charge, of any conversation he was in, and I tried to emulate him.” With Bambi as his motivation, he studied and copied the whole dictionary while in prison. He did not let the fact that he was imprisoned get in the way of educating himself. The more he studied, the more he understood and he learned of people, places and historical events. Once he knew words and the meaning of them, he understood the books he read. While he was in prison, he read mostly in his bunk or the library. Malcolm states, “never had been so truly free in my life”. While he was in prison, the reading and writing opened his mind to new opportunities. Malcolm states, “Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened.” Although he was imprisoned physically, he was not imprisoned mentally. He felt freer to pick up another book and read. When he read his books, he did not feel like he was in prison. He felt freer than he felt in his entire life.

Prison had changed the man Malcolm X had become. His experience in prison made him more educated than he was before. He became a role model or inspiration to so many people and that is how we remember him. He is proof that with patience and determination, you are able to achieve anything you put your mind to.

  Malcolm x was an activist who came from slavery descent. He was a man who went through many trials in life, with the white man, black man, the people he looked up to and would die for, the people who he brought together to fight the common enemy, and even sometimes himself. One of his biggest tests in life was him being in prison but he was grateful for what he gained from it. He gained a tremendous amount of curiosity and knowledge. He gained the ability to read and write and was able to do it for hours at a time, sometimes for up to fifteen hours a day. He read and copied the entire dictionary teaching him phrases and events in history he didn’t even know existed. This opened up the explorer in him while he was incarcerated. He just felt like his mind could find the answer to anything. While incarcerated he never stopped learning how to help the black man. He rather read in the isolation of his cell than in the library, as he did this he was teaching himself literacy and how to not be affected by ignorance. While he is locked up his mind is so free to new information he feels like he is outside those brick walls. He is allowing his mind to wander aimlessly in the literacy and he is loving it. With this narrative, I can gather that even incarcerated literacy can give you the freedom to get your questions answered from behind the wall.

This narrative suggests that the relationship between literature and freedom is that they both have to do with ignorance. Without knowledge of literature many are portrayed as ignorant. Ignorance avoids freedoms. Malcolm X feels as though he was free from ignorance while being in jail due to the amount of free time he had in his hands to learn and study. He had the ability to invest his time into literature. The books he read give him more knowledge and more freedom in a sense. The more he read, the more free he was. “Literacy Behind bars” states “Where else but in a prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day.”  Malcolm X was battling the white man. Malcolm X wanted to just his studies to help the next black man. To pass on the “freedom” that he attacked his ignorance with, which was literature. Malcolm X talks about real world distractions. He explains that we have our freedoms taken away for use because of the many distractions in this world. Bening isolated in his prison cell made him think, read, and study. Reading for about fifteen hours a day, he would only sleep four to six hours each night. Prison changed Malcolms view of everything. Although he was away he was away studying to understand texts that he didnt understand before. He studied words he never said before. Malcolm X influenced the world and he showed many that knowledge is the key to freedom. To know what is on paper is knowing what you are most capable of.

After Malcom X learned to read and write in the Charlestown Prison he said he “never had been so truly free in his life”. By this, Malcom X had achieved something he had never done before. When he says he is free, he is portraying knowledge and new understanding, something he was never exposed to out of prison. For Malcom X, his journey with self taught reading and writing allowed him to explore more in literacy and writing. Malcom X says, “I suppose it was inevitable that as my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying”. He was able grasp the understanding of words and sentences instead of just picking up words that seemed familiar. Malcom X felt free because he was learning, not only was he able to find a hobby but he was able to use it as a way of escape from reality. He was so fascinated and intrigued about his new academic growth that it made him realize how lost he was, reading and writing changed his life forever. He was able to acknowledge the importance of books, authors and writers despite being incarcerated. Nevertheless he took what he learned and made an impression of himself out of it. There is irony that an incarcerated individual would feel free, but Malcom X by saying he feels free is emphasizing the accessibility and acknowledgement he once didn’t have. What he learned was out of reach to him as some point and with dedication he was able to gain freedom and openness to literacy. This narrative suggest that literature can give a person freedom by exposing them to new material, new language, and new understandings.

Malcolm X was a leader to the black community. When he was imprison, he used his confinement to find his true freedom. The embodiment of education is something that many people didn’t have at the time. Malcolm X  use the negative aspects of prison and turned it around to better benefit him. Blacks oppression didn’t stop him from getting the same education as a college student at the time. Malcolm states that, “In fact, prison enabled me to study for more intensively than I would if my life had gone differently and I attend some college”. Malcolm had a way to build on to the ability that the confinement gave him by reading book from the library and being able to read. Many of the black communities couldn’t understand a lot of thing and because of the prison, which was a place used to limit the black community, Malcolm turned this negative aspect of being placed in jail to find his true calling. Malcolm whole life changed around because of his building curiosity on wanting to expand his knowledge.  Malcolm claims that, “I could spend the rest of my life reading just satisfying my curiosity”. The ability to read can never be so liberating. literacy is a art that many of the people did not have access to. Prison is the only place that have any books that are not restricted to anyone in the public or skin based. Malcolm used his knowledge to give his experience in the book to everyone who was willing to listen and learn the same way he did.

Prison has a negative connotation. Prison is a building where you are forcibly held for punishment. You are locked up yearning to see the world. Malcolm X thought differently. Prison for Malcolm X was an area where he finally found his freedom. Effectively, this is where the irony plays a role. Some may think: “How does one find freedom in prison?” In this narrative, Malcolm X begins to explain that his literature journey started out very poorly, but ended with joy. During the time he came across a book, he was imperfectly aware of how to read the words and phrases. Even though he skipped through them, he was not sure of what the book was telling him. “I saw the best thing to do was get a hold of a dictionary…I’d never realized so many words existed.” Malcolm X goes about to take advantage of his time in prison in order to perfect his literature and writing skills. He did this by copying every page and reading it back to himself. Malcolm realized that he see’s a difference and was fascinated that he finally remembers and recognizes new words. Not only was he strongly engaged, but also he finally felt free. Someone like Malcolm X never knew how much power reading had until he actually picked up a book. This narrative suggests the quantity of love literature and freedom have within one another. Malcolm X conveys the idea that because he was curious on learning how to read and write, he made worth of this important opportunity. Malcolm X ends his narrative off by stating: “Where else but in prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day.” Alternatively stated, reading and writing is something that is built with passion and affection, just as Malcolm X did. Malcolm’s determination of reading made him grow as a person with power. He is finally liberated.

When the public thinks about prison they think of a place of Isolation and no freedom. Most don’t take advantage of what prison would have to offer unlike Malcolm X .

Malcolm X was a writer and black civil rights activist. Malcom X is widely known, his education was very poor as well as his english but prison changed that. Although most think of prison as a place where their freedom is stripped away from them Malcolm X shows otherwise even though he was in prison, he “never had been so truly free in his life.” The narrative suggests that literature/reading are both connected with freedom although Malcolm wasn’t physically free he had freedom through books and language. Literature is so powerful that a good book will keep you enticed to it, in this case the same happened to Malcolm “i spent two days just rifiling uncertainty through the dictionary’s pages….i didn’t know so many words existed…I didn’t know which words i needed to learn” the amazement he experienced with not knowing and wanting to learn drove his curiosity. New doors opened for Malcolm, he states “i have often reflected upon new vistas opened to me” showing how his mind started to open new views, new ideas have awoken in his mind through the power of literature. The narrative shows the connection of literature and freedom. Malcolm was “free” in prison through the escape of literature and being able to expand his mind while the lack of knowledge had him imprisoned.