Oftentimes, when one is imprisoned, it is expected to  feel trapped or locked. However, Macolm X’s experience was different. During a time he was supposed to mostly feel locked in, he found a love for reading, writing and educating himself. In “Literacy Behind Bars” Malcom X describes how he felt after learning how to fluently read and write. Through his narrative, a relationship between literature and freedom is established.

After Malcom X’s experience of developing jealousy towards an inmate’s amount of knowledge, he was motivated to teach himself how to read and write. After Malcom read over the dictionary, studied the words and meanings, wrote over a million words and learned how to read rigorously, he mentioned “In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” The relationship between literature and freedom seen in his narrative suggests that once one is educated enough to understand what you’re reading, one can read whatever one likes. Also, the feeling of freedom Malcom X feels comes from being able to converse with Bimbi and read books but now actually understanding the words read. This was now a whole new world for him.

    Now that X was able to read, he felt like a different and better person. There was no better feeling than having knowledge. X states, “I have often reflected upon the new vistas opened to me.” He was filled with different views that he wasn’t before. Now he was able to explore thoughts and ideas. Also as he says, “As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to mentally alive.” His ability to read did not only obviously educate him but it changed his mental state. He was observing and analyzing things differently. Reading made X happy. Reading satisfied X. Reading made X feel free in a time he was locked away. Reading changed X’s life allowing him to become an advocate for Pan-Africanism.

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