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.

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