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. 

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