Malcom X's essay "Coming to an Awareness of Language," surprised me. I was not aware that he learned to write this way. He proves Maurius's point that reading is the best thing to do when you want to write. Maybe I should start doing more of this!
The essay was interesting, but from a rhetorical standpoint it wasn’t that great. It was grammatically and mechanically correct, but it didn’t seem to me to have much literary value. There wasn’t much variation in sentence structure, he used a lot of vague phrases, and there wasn’t much imagery. It seems to me that this essay’s value comes from the fame of its author rather than its writing technique. For an autobiography it is an interesting story, and I never would have guessed he learned to read like that. However, I’ve never enjoyed reading autobiographies because their structure always seems boring to me.
Wow, Amanda - that was very insightful. I didn't see this essay in the same light; but your comments do put some perspective on things. I enjoyed the essay because I felt as if I could relate. I too, struggled with communicating my thoughts and feelings, although, I have learned to become relatively good at it - though I have never read or copied the dictionary. Malcolm X mentions something very profound at the end of the essay that I can relate to very well: "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."---- Have any of you ever felt this way; that your ability to learn, read, and communicate could be a "freeing" enterprise?
Malcom Xs essay was a very personal essay and it pretty interesting what he did. I dont know if I could pick up a dictionary and be as diligent as he was. The essay was kind of boring even though it was interesting. Reading about how he read and copied the dictionary lost me as a reader. Overall I think that it was a good idea and a good essay.
5 comments:
The essay was interesting, but from a rhetorical standpoint it wasn’t that great. It was grammatically and mechanically correct, but it didn’t seem to me to have much literary value. There wasn’t much variation in sentence structure, he used a lot of vague phrases, and there wasn’t much imagery. It seems to me that this essay’s value comes from the fame of its author rather than its writing technique. For an autobiography it is an interesting story, and I never would have guessed he learned to read like that. However, I’ve never enjoyed reading autobiographies because their structure always seems boring to me.
Wow, Amanda - that was very insightful. I didn't see this essay in the same light; but your comments do put some perspective on things. I enjoyed the essay because I felt as if I could relate. I too, struggled with communicating my thoughts and feelings, although, I have learned to become relatively good at it - though I have never read or copied the dictionary. Malcolm X mentions something very profound at the end of the essay that I can relate to very well: "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."---- Have any of you ever felt this way; that your ability to learn, read, and communicate could be a "freeing" enterprise?
Thanks Jen, for starting things off!
Malcom Xs essay was a very personal essay and it pretty interesting what he did. I dont know if I could pick up a dictionary and be as diligent as he was. The essay was kind of boring even though it was interesting. Reading about how he read and copied the dictionary lost me as a reader. Overall I think that it was a good idea and a good essay.
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