Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie define and approach literacy in a similar fashion. Malcolm and Sherman both grew up as a minority and felt attacked, looked down on, and underestimated throughout there lives. Both are trying to use there literacy as a form of proof that they are capable of anything that anyone else could do. Just because they were black or Indian it didn’t matter to Malcolm and Sherman, rather they charged right in and developed there literacy on there own. The only slight difference is that Malcolm was using his development of literacy for the purpose of fulfilling knowledge of African-American History and becoming dominate through writing as he was dominate while on the streets with the words he spoke, Malcolm X explained that, “I had been the most articulate hustler out there-I had commanded attention when I said something. But now, trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional” (WAW, 354). On the other hand Sherman was using the development of his literacy to prove that he wasn’t just the run-of-the-mill Indian that couldn’t hardly function with the English language but rather he was intelligent and wasn’t afraid to tell others about it, as Sherman emphasized, “I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives” (WAW, 365).
I agree completely with you. Malcom X was always one of the biggest players for African American... I guess "Civil Rights" movement speakers out there (for a current lack of defined knowledge about X). I really enjoyed Alexie's paragraph metaphor and his application to it on daily life. It brought a new scope, at least to me, on the sense of what the meaning of it was. Like you pointed out Alexie's quote of "I am trying to save our lives," showing that he needed to do this to make himself and his people known that they are indeed just as good as the next average joe.
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