Malcolm X, Sherman Alexie Synthesis

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Literacy Even before we start attending school, our very first lesson is to become literate in the language we speak. From reading monosyllabic stories to reading novels, we try to achieve literacy. Many people have come to believe that this is the best way to achieve it. However, some of the greatest public speakers and writers did not achieve it through the way most people did. This is illustrated from the literary works of Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, and Sherman Alexie. Like these people, literacy isn’t achieved by simply going to school. It’s achieved through great determination and through great persistence. Frederick Douglass, an African-American who was born a slave, was taught how to read and write from the wife of his master. In his narrative, he writes about his mistress. He writes, “My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else” (Douglass, pg. 113). Because of the fact that Douglass was a slave, his mistress stopped teaching him and prevented anyone else from doing so. “When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return” (Douglass, pg 115). This passage shows that even though his mistress stopped his education, he persisted in becoming literate. Malcolm X was a public speaker and a civil rights activist in the 1900s. Even though he went to school, education for African-Americans at the time could hardly be counted as one compared to education for white people. In his autobiography, he writes about his time in prison. He writes, “I copied into my tablet everything printed on that first page, down to the punctuation marks. . . As my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a
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