When describing how he felt after learning how to read and write, Malcom X states that he has “never had been so truly free in life”, regardless of being incarcerated. The narrative shows the relationship between literature and freedom by explaining how even though Malcolm X was in jail he still made a way to educate himself. As it is explained in the narrative, his ambition for reading and writing began when he was first incarcerated in Charlestown Prison. Malcom X became envious of the knowledge that Bimbi had that he then began to read books even though he barely understood them, shortly he began to write down words that he didn’t know and find out the meaning with a dictionary. Every time he learned new words and looked at his progress, X became “immensely proud to realize that not only had [he] written so much at one time, but [he’d] written words that [he] never knew were in the world”. By realizing how much he had learned Malcom X became very proud of his growth that he continued to read even more. This gave him the feeling of freedom. It is quite ironic that he felt free due to his situation.The narrative shows how literature and freedom have a very close relationship to Malcom X. Everyone views freedom differently, and to Malcom X reading and writing is what made him feel free. In the narrative it is also stated that Prison was more helpful than it was harmful to Malcom X, he questions “Where else but in a prison could [he] have attacked [his] ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day. The sense of being trapped in one place opened him up to something better, the knowledge that he lacked.

Language played an important role in Amy  Tan’s life. Due to Amy and her family being from China, English isn’t their first language. Since English isn’t the family’s first language Amy’s mother seems to struggle with speaking “proper” English which leads to them facing some obstacles, like Amy having to make phone calls for her mother pretending to be her mother and others making fun or her or being rude which leads to Amy being ashamed of her mother’s English. Unlike her mother, Amy is a English fluent speaker and is even able to code switch the ways she speaks depending on the situation she is in. It isn’t until one day while giving a speech, which her mother attended that she realized the different “Englishes” that she uses on a day to day basis. Her mother’s “broken English” as she refers to it has helped shape Amy into the reader and writer that she is today by making her more open to expressing herself in different ways. In the text she explains how her “mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.

Since English is also my second language I can relate to Amy’s mother in the sense that in school we were taught a certain way to speak and any other way was considered “improper”. When I reached middle school that’s when “standard English” was really enforced it made it difficult because I didn’t know what made english considered standard or not. Often times people learning English seem to use incorrect terms without being aware since English is so complex and words can be used in many different ways and have different meanings. I personally am aware of how English is used around me because it helps me know how to communicate with the other person and how to interact with them.

Hey everyone, my name is Jaylene Cordero (She/her) and I am currently an undeclared major but plan in majoring in Biology.

After reviewing the syllabus, one thing I am excited about is in improving my writing, and learning about different types of writing styles. I personally enjoy English class so I’m excited about the whole class in general. One thing that I am nervous about is that the course will be online, I believe it would’ve been way better and easier to manage and understand in person. To answer the question of what are the qualities of good writing I believe that all writing is different and good writing should engage the readers and keep them interested in what they are reading by using different choices of words and writing styles. In order for one to be considered a good writer they must be able to attract readers and gain their attention in order for them to keep reading. I feel like it is important to write well because it is a form of communication that we use on a daily basis and without writing well others won’t be able to understand what it is that one is trying to say.  The easiest part of writing for me would be reading over my work and editing it. I find that to be easy because by rereading over my work and editing I can spot any mistakes made. In the other hand, what I find most difficult is actually starting a writing piece, I seem to procrastinate a lot when starting a new piece of writing and even restarting multiple times but once I am happy with the beginning of my writing I find it easy to continue writing and finish off. In this course I hope to learn how to write a good introduction to my writing since it’s what I struggle with the most. I’m not really sure of what I will be having to write about in my major/career but since I want to be a pediatrician I’m guessing medical reports and scientific findings. I think being an effective writer will affect my career opportunities because with good writing I’ll be able to write good medical reports and anything else that I may need to write for.