Analysis Of Malcolm X And Tillie Alson s I Stand Here...

The Parallels of Poverty In today’s society, there is a clear boundary between being wealthy and living in poverty. It is believed that in the world today, around 1% of people own more wealth than the bottom 98% of people living. Although living with money may bring you happiness from materialistic items, when people start to become money minded and greedy, they fail to appreciate how valuable the money they have is. Living in poverty has very negative effect on one’s ability to survive, their loss of spirit and overall happiness. In the readings by Malcolm X in The Autobiography of Malcolm X and in Tillie Alson’s I Stand Here Ironing, both explore the parallels of poverty and how poverty means more than just being monetarily poor.†¦show more content†¦As a black, one would live in poverty and not dream of anything more than shining shoes or have a respected profession (Malcom 5). African American people were targeted by white supremacists and in the Lit tle’s family, many had been killed due to their skin color. Malcolm exclaims â€Å"it has always been my belief that I, too will die by violence. I have done all that I can be prepared† (Malcolm 2). Poverty is a very common thing for the African American people at this point in time. In the autobiography, we move into the Great Depression where the life of a colored person has many hardships and how these damaging effects cause poverty of the self. Malcolm moves away from his family in Lansing, Michigan at fifteen years old after spending the summer in Boston, Massachusetts. Malcolm believes that he has much more potential than to stay in Michigan and have a dissatisfied life. While in Boston, he will stay with his half-sister Ella who tells Malcolm to explore the city before he ties himself down to a job. When he goes into the city, he sees how their are different types of black people. On Roxbury Hill where he lives, it is populated with ghetto black people who are poor and jobless which is towards the bottom of the hill. And at the top of the hill, he sees the Hill Negroes who were â€Å"breaking their backs trying to imitate white people† (Malcolm 42). While Malcolm searches for a job, he meets Shorty who brings him to the Roseland State