Coming To An Awareness Of Language Summary

In the article “Coming to an Awareness of Language” by Malcolm X he brings the question of what it truly means to be free. He answers that by saying “Between Mr. Muhammad’s teachings, my correspondence, my visitors . . . and my reading of books, months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life” (Malcolm X). In the early life, Malcom X was involved in the underworld of Harlem where he was known as Big Red. In 1946, he was charged with burglary and went to prison. During his life in the underworld whenever he felt strongly about an issue he wanted to do something about it, so he started writing a letter to hustlers in the underworld. Soon he realized that these men are unable to read and have another
In prison, he wrote to the mayor of Boston and governor of Massachusetts never getting a reply. During his years in prison, Malcom became frustrated with the fact that he could not express himself in writing. In prison, he meets Bimbi who was educated and took over every conversation he had, Malcolm tried to copy him but every time he picked up a book he couldn’t understand the meaning behind it. After that point in his life in prison, he started to self-educate himself. In the process of learning he started with a dictionary, he went through one page and wrote down all the words and their meanings and repeated it to himself through out the day. He was so fascinated with there being so many words that he completed the dictionary writing about a million words in his days in prison. After his self-education, Malcom could finally pick up a book and understand the meaning behind it. He emphasized on the fact that with being able to read he was truly a free man and could interpret life from an open mind forming his own beliefs. Malcolm X says, “In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life” (Malcolm