Factores ambientales

Alienated from the world to which he is born and from the country of which he is a citizen yet surrounded by the successful values of that world, and country, how can the Negro define himself? (Robert Penn Warren)

Within the forty years of his life, Malcolm X underwent enormous changes. ―That a man who had inhabited the ‗lower depth‘ of life could rise in triumph as a reproach to its ills, and become an uncompromising champion of his people, is … a remarkable feat,‖ the sociologist John Henrik Clarke noted in a critical review about Malcolm‘s life the year after his death (48). In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the ―total man‖, Clarke argued, the ―significant components that went into his making‖ had to be understood (48). Thus,

Malcolm‘s distinct and interrelated phases in life under their respective names need to be considered in order to understand ―the man [who was] in search of a definition of himself and his relationships to his people, his country, and the world‖ (48).

Malcolm X‘s identity search took place at a time when the civil rights and the black power movements of the 1950s and 1960s were actively shaping their identities—and it took place as a defining element within those movements. In applying Erik H. Erikson‘s

psychoanalytical theory of identity development to Malcolm X‘s life, Lawrence B. Goodheart points out that his maturation—as was the case in Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther‘s lives—was characterized by ―the interconnection between [his] life history … and the historical moment, a linkage that [proved to be] momentous as [Malcolm X‘s] psychic needs were resolved in a manner that crystallized communal aspirations‖ (48). Accordingly, the constructing of Malcolm‘s sense of self ―as a counterpart to the historic oppression of African Americans constitutes a central theme in his life‖ and narrative (48).

Various critics have explored the developmental stages in Malcolm X‘s life from different angles. While Clarke examines the synthesis of Malcolm‘s distinct phases in life from a sociological perspective, John D. Groppe employs Erikson‘s developmental stage theory to demonstrate Malcolm X‘s ―growth into trust‖ in his 1983 essay ―The Role of Trust in The

Autobiography of Malcolm X.‖ Goodheart also uses Erikson‘s theoretical framework in

examining Malcolm X‘s identity at different stages in his 1990 essay ―The Odyssey of Malcolm X: An Eriksonian Interpretation.‖

In joining the concerted literary effort of illuminating the life of one of America‘s most

influential black leaders, the present study will explore the parallels between Malcolm X‘s life narrative and the history of the African American people as a whole. The author‘s quest for identity, which constitutes the narrative‘s most prominent pattern and which is reflected in the respective names of each period, shall thus be mirrored in the historical evolvement of

African Americans and their collective identity search within American society.

To this end, Malcolm X‘s life narrative will be conceived of as divided into four distinct phases, each represented by a different name. During the first phase, his childhood in Nebraska and Michigan, he was Malcolm Little. It was during these formative years that Malcolm painfully experienced the effects of white supremacy and the murder of his father, which wrecked his family‘s life. It was also in his early years that he learned about black separatist ideas, since his parents were active in Marcus Garvey‘s U.N.I.A. (Universal Negro Improvement Association), an organization which advocated the return of Blacks to Africa. The second phase in his life started when Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his half- sister Ella. During this time, which might be called his hipster and hustler career, he was

Detroit Red, or Big Red, due to the reddish hue of his skin and hair. Convicted of burglary,

Malcolm served a seven year prison sentence during which his fellow inmates gave him the name ―Satan‖ for his blasphemous language. Malcolm‘s conversion to the Black Muslim faith while still in prison marks the transition from the second to the third period.

Released from prison, he began a new life as the Black Muslim minister, Malcolm X, the X representing the loss of his ancestral identity. As Elijah Muhammad‘s eloquent and highly visible spokesperson, Malcolm X appealed to the masses of impoverished African Americans thereby stirring a national debate. This is the period with which Malcolm X is usually

associated today.

Finally, after his break with the Nation of Islam, his identity search concluded with a turn to orthodox Islam and the rejection of some of Elijah Muhammad‘s tenets while embracing the idea of an interracial brotherhood. The name he adopted during this, his shortest, period was the Muslim name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Since the name Malcolm X represented him when he was most visible as a public figure, it is under this name that his posthumous legacy lives on.

Malcolm X‘s quest for identity might be seen as reflecting the collective African American search for identity as a people. Their names have ranged from Slaves, Freedmen, Niggers, Negroes, Colored, and Black to African Americans and various historical and political events frame distinct phases in their history on the North American continent. The initial phase of

racial oppression—slavery, segregation, and Jim Crowism—signals the loss of African

identity, corresponding with Malcolm X‘s childhood. The second phase, Malcolm‘s hipster and hustler time, reflects the development of black inner-city ghettos. This phase also includes his time as ―Satan‖ in prison, a period of utter hopelessness and despair. The third

period, Malcolm‘s cultural transformation among the Black Muslims, will be compared to

black separatist and nationalist movements such as the Nation of Islam. The final phase,

during which Malcolm turned toward interracial cooperation, represents the concept of