From the very outset of the first chapter, The Autobiography of Malcolm X has been wildly entertaining and even more insightful. Before this school year in which the independent reading books we choose have to be nonfiction, I was extremely close minded to and doubtful of the possibility that I could somehow actually enjoy reading a nonfiction book, yet less than halfway through the year, my false fear has been turned on its head. The last book I read, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, kept me interested by stating theories that initially sounded like nonsense, until he provided the data again and again to back up his claim. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is fascinating in a way that I almost cannot believe that it is in fact a nonfiction book: the story is almost too riveting to be true. So far from what I’ve read, Malcolm X (originally Malcolm Little) has had his house attacked or burned down twice by racist hate groups, his family torn apart by the social justice system, his mother taken away to a mental hospital, had himself moved to a white foster home, and he currently lives from menial job to menial job, which he passionately hates. Even turning to selling drugs and using them himself. Starting in Nebraska, moving to Michigan, than Boston, and onto New York. I am not yet at the point at which I know he is incarcerated and begins to really turn his life around. However, as I read page after page, I become more and more invested in his struggle of rising above the stereotypes and those actively trying to keep him down. Although to an obviously much lower degree, I have seen some similarities between what Malcolm has experienced and I have experienced myself in terms of racial prejudice. As I continue reading, I plan to pay specific attention to how his circumstances combine and ultimately lead to the formation of the passionate and highly capable leader Malcolm X becomes.
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