Book Memo: The Autobiography of Malcolm X The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the story of Malcolm X, an African American male growing up in the United States in the mid-1900’s. At this time in America prejudice and segregation were widespread and much a part of everyday life. Malcolm takes the reader through his experiences with American society, which rejects him. This rejection, along with the inferiority cast upon all Black Americans, forces these males to search for acceptance. They are forced to search for purpose in causes greater than single individuals. As the book shows, this is evident in Malcolm throughout his life and in the life of other African American males. The Autobiography shows how during this time in American history non-white males, treated as inferior and rejected by society, will search for acceptance into groups and ideological movements, which they feel are larger than the individual.This is evident early on in the story as Malcolm tells of his father. His father found acceptance in religion. Being a preacher gave Reverend Little an outlet from a society, which viewed him as inferior. He found acceptance in his Church and in Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. In these two organizations he found meaning and purpose in his life by spreading Christianity and the ideologies of Pan-Africanism. After his father’s death Malcolm continued to be treated, as all African American were treated at the time, inferior. With his move to Boston started Malcolm’s first real independence and his search for acceptance and a purpose. Meeting Shorty, who had found acceptance in the ghetto, lured Malcolm to begin his search there. He found acceptance as a hustler. With this, Malcolm began to search for more acceptance. He had the idea to form an organized burglary gang. “We would be like a family unit,” he said about the gang (145). This unit was exactly th...
