Malcolm X - Chapter 2 - Reading Questions

Malcolm X

Chapter 2

Reading Questions

Multiple Choice

Why was there so much interest in Malcolm’s first boxing match?

• Malcolm was well-known around town.

• Malcolm was fighting a locally famous boxer

• Malcolm’s brother had a large following among boxing fans

• Malcolm was fighting a white kid

Open Ended

Why does Malcolm X go “into hiding” after his first boxing match versus Bill Peterson?

Answer in complete sentences, using best practices for embedding quotations. Use single-word and short-phrase quotes and integrate them organically into your sentences, so your writing FLOWS.

Open Ended

How does Malcolm X react after getting beaten so badly in the boxing match? What does this reveal about his character?

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Multiple Choice

What’s the final straw that gets Malcolm kicked out of school?

• he puts a tack on the teacher’s chair

• he cuts another student with a knife

• he fails all his classes

• his father’s political activities angered the principal

Open Ended

Mr. and Mrs. Swerlin run the reform school that Malcolm is sent to. They are kind to Malcolm — in their own way.

Cite one example of indirect characterization that Malcolm X includes to show how the Swerlins were kind.

Open Ended

But at the same time, the Swerlins do NOT treat Malcolm or any of the other African-American students with respect.

Cite one example of indirect characterization that Malcolm X includes to show how the Swerlins were very disrespectful to him.

Open Ended

The Swerlins are ROUND — or complicated — characters. They are kind, but also racist and condescending. Malcolm X uses them as examples of certain types of white people that he has met many times in his life.

Explain what Malcolm X thinks about “good white people” like the Swerlins.

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Multiple Choice

How did Malcolm feel at the time about the classmates and others who would call him the “n-word”?

• he didn’t care

• it bothered him “only vaguely”

• he got in fights because of it

• it made him feel terrible and he often complained about it with friends

Open Ended

What insight does Malcolm have about the way he and other African-Americans accept such racist language? Why do they put up with it, according to Malcolm?

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Multiple Choice

What impressed Malcolm the most about his step-sister Ella when she came to visit Lansing?

• she was a link to Malcolm’s father

• she was openly proud of her dark complexion

• she was so kind and loving

• she was in her second marriage

Open Ended

Describe Malcolm’s first impressions of Boston, and what effect they had on him.

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Open Ended

Mr. Ostrowski is also a ROUND, or complicated, character. Write a paragraph in which you explain how he is both kind and cruel to Malcolm, and why.

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Open Ended

One way that authors create indirect characterization is by showing a character’s effect on others.

Describe how the white people in Lansing reacted to Malcolm after he returned from Boston and had his run in with Mr. Ostrowski. What do their reactions reveal about how Malcolm has changed?

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