Rachael Parillo
English 1102
Rorabaugh
Malcom X was a man who held many strong beliefs and posed numerous persuasive arguments. Many of these arguments are presented by Malcom X in his autobiography. The told events of his life provide the evidence for the arguments he makes. One of his contentions is that women are inferior to men. Malcom’s perception of women and his basis for this argument develop through out his life. His experiences with women provide efficient evidence for the argument he makes, but there are some counter-examples which contradict his argument.
Malcom grew up watching his father beat his mother. As a young boy he lived in a society where women were considered less significant than men. When Malcom moved to Boston, he gained knowledge about women by the examples of his friends who used women as status symbols. His experiences with his own status symbol, Sophia, further lead him to believe that women were inferior to men. These conditions shaped Malcom’s views on women. It was through Malcom’s experiences with his family, his friends in Boston, and the women he knew that lead him to believe women were “nothing but another commodity (155).” Malcom did have models of proud and self-reliant women through out his life. However, these women did not seem to affect his overall opinion.