Malcolm X Central Idea Analysis

Throughout the Autobiography of Malcolm X there are several key events the bring out the central ideas of the text. Some examples of the key events was when Mr. Ostrowski lectured Malcolm, when Malcolm was in jail and he learned the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, and when Malcolm made his pilgrimage to Mecca. A closer look at the central ideas would show that they build on one another. When Malcolm was going to school his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, told home to give up his dream of being a lawyer,” Malcolm, one of life’s first needs is to be realistic. Don’t misunderstand me, now. We all here like you, you know that. But you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer- that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be. You’re good with your hands- making things. Everybody admires your carpentry shop work. Why don’t you plan on carpentry? People like you as a person- you’d get all kinds of work.” (page 38). This statement shows the systemic oppression since the system truly believes that black people couldn’t do anything important. This central idea builds upon separation and the teachings of Marcus Garvey since the blacks wanted to separate from the white people and the oppression they faced pushed them to break away even more. When Malcolm

When he arrives in Mecca he is astounded to find that there are people of all races and colors here that are not being discriminatory towards each other and throughout the rest of his journey he begins to see the true face of Islam and sees the error in Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. This affects the central idea of integration vs separation since he saw that it is completely possible for white people and black people to coincide, they just need to actually respect each other and not judge based on the other one’s