ATHE WHITE MAN IS THE DEVIL@ - MALCOLM X

 

 

 

 

                                                                 Tywan Easter

                                                                 Mr. Rodberg, per 4

                                                                 10/20/06

                                                                 English III

 

 

 

 

 

Even writers such as Malcolm x use both strong and weak argument, and make assumptions and back there argument up with different types of evidence. The Autobiography of Malcolm X  Is a very powerful novel. Malcolm uses racism and emotions as the theme in the pages I have chosen (30-35). His purpose is to show how racism had an big affect on his feeling/emotions, how teachers and people treated him differently because of his race. The theme of these pages is racism, and he shows in many ways how he grew as a person. Malcolm is very credible on ways how he overcame racism. In this essay you will see how his arguments, assumptions, different kinds of evidence, and fallacies tie in with his theme and purpose.

Malcolm argues his theme and purpose based on different types of arguments. He says he want to become a lawyer, but then his white teacher said he shouldn=t be one. The same teacher told the white kids they could become a lawyer or whatever they put their mind to (Pg. 30). Malcolm argues well why can=t I become a lawyer, is it because im black. This type of argument is argument by authority. Argument by authority is the strength on the credibility of the expert or authority. For an example, if a teacher tell you you can=t be something just because they are in a higher position than you, it don=t mean nothing, whatever you put your mind to you can do. This is an argument by authority because Malcolm wants to know why the teacher tell=s him he cant, but tells the white kids they can. Another type of argument I ran across in the pages 30-35 was argument by causation. Argument by causation is an event A causing an event B. Example, because of the rain, the traffic was worse. The event A was because it was raining, it caused more traffic, which is event B. When Malcolm walks in the class the teacher starts singing a song about slaves. This is an argument by causation because the cause of Malcolm walking in the class, the teacher(a white man) starts singing a song about slaves, trying to be funny. He probably wasn=t singing the song before Malcolm walked in, so why would he start now. There aren=t too many people ready to die for racism. They=ll kill for racism but they won=t die for racism. That will give you something to think about.

Malcolm also uses Implicit and Stated assumptions to support his argument about how racism and how his emotions were affected. One assumption I mentioned he uses is stated assumptions. He thought that  whites looked down on blacks, and that whites always called us niggers. AThey=ve heard it so much they=ve almost gotten brainwashed into believing itBor at least accepting it@ (pg.31). This is an stated assumption because Malcolm is say white people called us niggers so much back then, we started accepting it. This is stated, that=s why it=s an stated assumption. Another assumption I found Malcolm uses is an implicit assumption. Whites thought blacks were dumb. AThe Negroes had been slaves and then were freed, and how they were usually lazy and dumb and shiftless@ (pg.30).@ Just because we were slaves doesn=t mean we are dumb. This is weak evidence, it does not support an argument. Accomplishments have no color. That=s what I always say.

            The types of evidence I found that Malcolm uses to support his theme and purposes was empirical and logical evidence. Whenever Malcolm walked into a gym for a basketball(he mentions that basketball was a big part of his life)game the whites came down hard on him. AWhenever I showed my face the audiences in the gymnasiums Aniggered@ and Acooned@ me to death (pg.31).@ The cause of Malcolm appearance caused the audience to do this. This is empirical evidence. He gives and strong evidence on why they did this, and this was because he was black. They wasn=t talking about anybody else on his team because his teammates were white. Another type of evidence he used was anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal Evidence is weak evidence. Malcolm thought his teammates was not bothered by the comments they made towards him. AIt didn=t bother my teammates or my coaches at all (pg.31)@. This is weak evidence on why his teammates wasn=t bothered by the racist comments made by the audience. He doesn=t give any evidence. He just says they wasn=t bothered by the comments. That=s why it is weak evidence. A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself.            Malcolm x uses fallacies to support his theme and purpose in the pages I have chosen. A Fallacy is an error in reasoning: leads to a bad or unsound argument. The fallacy I found the Malcolm uses is double speak. Double speak is language that suggests the argument must be correct, rather than actually making the argument. Malcolm said A I=m sorry to say that the subject I most disliked was mathematics. I have thought about it. I think the reason was that mathematics leaves no room for argument. If you mad a mistake, then that was all there was to it (pg.30).@ This is double speak because he=s not making an argument. He is just saying if you make a mistake on a problem in math, then you get the whole thing wrong. This is not necessarily true. Just because you make a mistake doesn=t mean the whole thing is wrong. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.      I would have to say Malcolm is very credible on racism. He uses things in the book to show how people acted on racism. ANegroes even today, though it bothers them down inside, keeps letting the white man tell them how much Aprogress@ they are making (pg.31).@ He is trying to say the white people still look down on blacks. Malcolm is not credible upon his won race. In many ways he talks about him wanting to be white, but these things are mostly implied because I can tell what he really wanted to say, but he never said it directly. He states it in on incident thought. A I didn=t really have much feeling about being a Negro, because I was trying so hard in every way I could to be white (pg.33).@ He probably wishes he was white back then to save himself from all the drama, because back then, if you was white, you had all the power.

In conclusion, conclude that racism bothers everyone, even a man as strong as Malcolm X. You seen how racism and emotions were argues through different types of arguments, Implicit and stated assumptions, kinds of evidence, fallacies, and credibility. I believe that no one should get discouraged by racism. I know it=s still a lot of racism in the world, but not as much as it was back then. I now know why Malcolm truly believes that the white man is the devil, based on his encounters/ experiences with them. In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it. "When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won't do to get it, or what he doesn't believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn't believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire . . . or preserve his freedom."--Malcolm X.