Malcolm x my first conk pdf

'V Never noticed the difference! No wonder! I hated the

Never gave it a glance, if I could avoid it. For years I held G parents, especially my mother. Look at the gilded cage I liv J whoever would listen. Look how my parents kept me from re r ̂ Sa'd equivalent of the story of how Dickens was put to work in a bl v ^ ̂ as ui° at the age of 12, deprived of his education, hopeless, abandoned b § fact°n ents who had turned the world upside down and relied on him* ̂ par' them. As I'd learned from reading Edmund Wilson, all of Dicke*0-51115^ had proceeded from this experience. Why didn't I have somethin"" $ $ n°Ve's that in my past? Instead I had Goldie. No wonder I hadn't becom ^"^ novelist. My parents hadn't allowed me to suffer. kj a 8reat

I was a difficult, ungrateful child, and this lasted well into my 4^ u ̂ until I told this story to my psychiatrist, a wise man in New Haven, th IT"" a handle on it. I told it to him as an example of how I'd been coddled as a' h?' trying to gain his sympathy. ("Poor little fly on the wall," I can hearmy moth er say. "Nebbish!") Wasn't it at least partly my parents' fault if I hadn't yet writ- ten what I wanted to write? Hadn't my parents deprived me of the pain I need- ed to be nourished as an artist? My doctor said, with the insight and subtlen achieved only after the most sophisticated theoretical and orthodox Freudian training, "She sounds like a very good mother."

\w that you have read one conflict story in this chapter, you can begin to think about it analytically by asking die six critical questions of it that VOL will be asking about your own narrative later in the chapter. (See Figu:

Reading Analytically K 1. Focusing on specific passages from this text, describe how^he au

makes you feel about her parents, about Goldie, and about herse . 2. The last paragraph ends abruptly with the psychiatrist's wor | ̂

does not explicitly tell us what the effect of those words arej°;?n!i]vze ̂ are we to understand them and their effect on the author tone of her description of the psychiatrist and look at the. words in the context of the entire text. JP

3. Rose states at the beginning that she was a "spoiled middle What assumptions does the author have about herself because^ class? What assumptions do you bring to the story knowing a "privileged" upbringing? Explore whether you think the parents' actions would have been felt differently—by the , you as a reader—if the author were from a poor backgrc

4. In exploring how Rose's feelings about the canary and a- g£ y, resents to her evolve over time, discuss her feelings a 0$i&\: her response when she is six, her response to her <

tion about the bird, and your sense of her response to ne i

"'«**$*£ t'ltf

Locating Ourselves in History and Culture 21

the au reader

uthor's conflict? answer this, the essay must contain

For a reauti frsse^ This is also a 5/te of possible revision • details and be.reaa ̂ k from draft l° u ô̂ perspective at the time of the conflict? ,_ What is the ̂ ̂ ̂ jg ̂ answer this, the essay must contain • F°r vr££'/be reader &«sed. This is also a site of possible revisiondetails ana ^

Why did the author hold his or her initial perspective? '• ~ .^swer this requires cultural analysis, a study of the larger fac-

tors—dominant beliefs, expectations, assumptions—helping to shape the author's subject position. Why do different perspectives exist in the same period of time? To answer this requires cultural analysis, a study of the larger fac- tors—dominant beliefs, expectations, assumptions—helping to shape the subject position of others who are involved in the conflict. 4jfc.'

. What is the author's change in perspective over time? For a reader to be able to answer this, the essay must contain details and be reader based. This is also a site of possible revision from draft to draft. >> Why does the author's perspective change over time? To answer this requires historical analysis, a comparison of the val- cSSs;Snd beuiefs that affected Ae author at the time °f thefllct Wlth those that a* affecting him or her at the present.

M Hair (1965)

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22 I AND I D E O L O G Y

lost tribal name. Eventually, however, he became disillusioned with this organization and separated from it to form his own Muslim organization. Shortly after that, he was assassinated. His life has been the subject of many documentaries, books, and movies, perhaps the best known of which is Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X (1992). This selec- tion is from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965).

Shorty soon decided that my hair was finally long enough to be conked. He had promised to school me in how to beat the barbershops' three- and four-dollar price by making up congolene, and then conking ourselves.

I took the little list of ingredients he had printed out for me, and went to a grocery store, where I got a can of Red Devil lye, two eggs, and two medium-sized white potatoes. Then at a drugstore near the poolroom, I asked for a large jar of vaseline, a large bar of soap, a large-toothed comb and a fine-toothed comb, one of those rubber hoses with a metal spray- head, a rubber apron and a pair of gloves.

"Going to lay on that first conk?" the drugstore man asked me. I proudly told him, grinning, "Right!"

Shorty paid six dollars a week for a room in his cousin's shabby apart- ment. His cousin wasn't at home. "It's like the pad's mine, he spends so much time with his woman," Shorty said. "Now, you watch me—"

He peeled the potatoes and thin-sliced them into a quart-sized Mason fruit jar, then started stirring them with a wooden spoon as he gradually poured in a little over half the can of lye. "Never use a metal spoon; the lye will turn it black," he told me.

A jelly-like, starchy-looking glop resulted from the lye and potatoes, and Shorty broke in the two eggs, stirring real fast—his own conk and dark face bent down close. The congolene turned pale-yellowish. "Feel the jar," Shorty said. I cupped my hand against the outside, and snatched it away. "Damn right, it's hot, that's the lye," he said. "So you know it's going to burn when I comb it in—it burns bad. But the longer you can stand it, the straighter the hair."

He made me sit down, and he tied the string of the new rubber apron tightly around my neck, and combed up my bush of hair. Then, from the big vaseline jar, he took a handful and massaged it hard all through my hair and into the scalp. He also thickly vaselined rny neck, ears and forehead. "When I get to washing out your head, be sure to tell me anywhere you feel any little stinging," Shorty warned me, washing his hands, then pulling °n the rubber gloves, and tying on his own rubber apron. "You always got to remember that any congolene left in burns a sore into your head."

The congolene just felt warm when Shorty started combing it in. BU' then my head caught fire.

McCORMICK and LIPKA Locating Ourselves in History and Culture 23

_ j gutted my teeth and tried to pull the sides of the kitchen table togeth- w The comb felt as if it was raking my skin off. "^ My eyes watered, my nose was running. I couldn't stand it any longer;

T b Ited to the washbasin. I was cursing Shorty with every name I could hink of when he got the spray going and started soap-lathering my head.

A He lathered and spray-rinsed, lathered and spray-rinsed, maybe ten or Vwelve times, each time gradually closing the hot-water faucet, until the rinse

' was cold, and that helped some. "You feel any stinging spots?" "No," I managed to say. My knees were trembling. "Sit back down, then. I think we got it all out okay."

w. The flame came back as Shorty, with a thick towel, started drying my " head, rubbing hard. "Easy, man, easyl" I kept shouting. ' $• "The first time's always worst. You get used to it better before long. You "" took it real good, homeboy. You got a good conk." *" *[ When Shorty let me stand up and see in the mirror, my hair hung down "" in limp, damp strings. My scalp still flamed, but not as badly; I could bear

it. He draped the towel around my shoulders, over my rubber apron, and began again vaselining my hair. 4. I could feel him combing, straight back, first the big comb, then the fine-

t toothed one. % Then, he was using a razor, very delicately, on the back of my neck.

, Then, finally, shaping the sideburns. ^ My first view in the mirror blotted out the hurting. I'd seen some pret- ty conks, but when it's the first time, on your own head, the transformation,

, after the lifetime of kinks, is staggering. * The mirror reflected Shorty behind me. We both were grinning and sweating. And on top of my head was this thick, smooth sheen of shining red hair—real red—as straight as any white man's. "t How ridiculous I was! Stupid enough to stand there simply lost in admi-

» Jatlon °f my hair now looking "white," reflected in the mirror in Shorty's room. vowed that I'd never again be without a conk, and I never was for many years.

- • j was W first realty big step toward self-degradation: when I x m "^^^that pain, literally burning my flesh with lye, in order to cook

•J natural hair until it was limp, to have it look like white man's hair. I had w °h j • mu^tu^e of Negro men and women in America who are brain-

ashed into believing that the black people are "inferior"—and white peo- bod'SU*)er*°r"—^at *key w^ even vi°late and mutilate their God-created .* les to tr7 to look "pretty" by white standards.

Examine the author's reasons for wanting to conk his hair. What concerns ^d factors had a role in his decision? What feelings do he and others have

24 I AND IDEOLOGY

for most of the text about hair conking? Cite particular passages in the text that demonstrate these feelings.

2. Where in the story do you first hear the adult Malcolm's voice? How are the views and attitudes of the adult Malcolm different from those of the younger man?

3. This text brings together three different time periods—the 1950s when the author was a child and conked his hair; the 1960s when the author is an adult looking back on that behavior; and the present in which we as readers live and look back on these two different historical moments.

a. Focusing on Malcolm X's change in attitude from the 1950s to the 1960s, explore some of the larger social factors that might have con- tributed to these changes. For example, reflect on the social and polit- ical climate of the 1950s and 1960s. What do you know about the sta- tus of African Americans at those times? Who were the major political figures and what were their views on race relations? Explore passages in the text that might give you insight into the political and social cli- mate of the times Malcolm X is describing.

b, Now turn your focus to your own contemporary perspective about the practice of hair conking. What larger social beliefs, practices, and assumptions have influenced your response to this text and your atti- tude toward hair conking? Try to be as detailed as possible. You may, for example, explore such areas as fashion, music, politics, race rela- tions in America today, the places you have lived while growing up, television, etc., as sources of beliefs and assumptions that have influ- enced your response. If you discover that your response is in some ways conflicted, try to explore the sources of these conflicts.

4. What do you see as a major area of difference between the times in which you have grown up and those in which Malcolm X grew up? What similarities do you see?

C H A N G - R A E L E E

Uncle Chul Gets Rich (1996)

Chang-rae Lee was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1965 and immigrated to the United States when he was three years old. He is the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Hunter College. Lee first novel, Native Speaker (1995), received five major awards,

McCORMICK and LIPKA Locating Ourselves in History and Culture 25

including the PEN-Hemingway Prize and the American Book Award. His second novel, A Gesture Life, was a 1999 New York Times Notable Book and an ALA Best Book of the Year. He has been selected by the New Yorker as one of the twenty best American writ- ers under forty. "Uncle Chul Gets Rich" was published in the New York Times in 1996 and addresses conflicting value systems in rela- tion to work, money, success, and moral living in a Korean Ameri- can family.

My father's youngest brother, Uncle Chul, shared the Lees' famously reaction to liquor, which was to turn beet red in the face, grow dizzy

and finally get sick. In spite of this, he was always happy to stay up late at family gatherings. After a few Scotches he would really loosen up, and, with the notable exception of my mother, we all appreciated his rough language and racy stories. Only when Mother came in from the kitchen would his talk soften, for he knew he had always fallen short in her eyes. If they were ever alone together, say in the kitchen, after dinner, he would use the most deco- rous voice in asking for a glass or a fresh bucket of ice, and even offer to help load the dishwasher or run an errand to the store. $ On one of those nights we sped off, both happy for a break in the long evening. He asked me about school, what sports I was playing, but the con- versation inevitably turned toward my parents, and particularly my mother —how much she had invested in me, that I was her great hope. I thought it was odd that he was speaking this way, like my other relatives, and I answered with some criticism of her—that she was too anxious and over- bearing. He stared at me and, with a hard solemnity I had not heard from mm before, said that my mother was one of the finest people one could ever know- He kept a grip on the wheel and in the ensuing quiet of the drive I could sense how he must have both admired and despised her. In many Aspects, my mother was an unrelenting woman. She tended to measure

on° i ^e mark °f a few principles of conduct: ask no help from any- gold ays p^an f°r tne l°ng run and practice (her own variation of) the

en rule, which was to treat others much better than oneself. weekf if ™ind' Uncle Chul soretylacked on a11 these accounts-In the $! 0 ooo OWing °Ur drive> my father woulcl be decidmg whether to lend him kitchen *£ start a business. As always after dinner, my parents sat in the sP°ke i -&re SCen* °^sesame °M and pickled vegetables still in the air) and Wa th i°rean> under the light of a fluorescent ring. My mother, in many

family, questioned my uncle's character and will.«T ?Pent most fv rmed P°ortyin school, failed to finish college? Hadn't he

s Billiard ° youtn perfecting his skills as a black belt in taekwondo and s 8aine? Wasn't he a gambler in spirit?