Professor Nugent
English 51
March 5, 2012
“My Prison Studies Malcolm X”: Summary and Reaction In reading the essay to Malcolm X “My Prison Studies”, Malcolm X has gained a lot of his knowledge in prison through reading the dictionary, and as he began to write out the whole dictionary, and learn more by studying each word, his writing speed began to become better and better, along with his understandings for each word. Bimbi, whom was another inmate in prison, encouraged Malcolm X and gave him a lot of motivation to gain more knowledge and wisdom. Malcolm X copied down each and every word in the dictionary on a writing tablet. Malcolm X also studied and learned of people, places, and events that went on in history. After so many years of learning, Malcolm X was able to pick up a book and read it, being able to understand all the words, which made it easier for him to understand the story whole. In the Norfolk Prison, they have a library that contains shelves filled up with books that has just about every general subject, so Malcolm X spent most of his time reading, writing, and learning of many different subjects.
Malcolm X essay really makes me think about how much knowledge someone can learn about when they put their time and effort into achieving their learning abilities. I myself still have much to learn in my school to get to my goals that I am achieving, but after reading Malcolm X essay gives me more encouragement to want to learn more about my studies. It brings me to believe, that if one person can do it, anyone can do it, as long as they put their time and effort into doing it, they will understand and learn many abilities and gain much knowledge just like Malcolm X