Analysis Of The Masculinity Of Malcolm X In The Autobiography Of Malcolm X

Malcolm X is one of the most important black political and religious leader in the 20 th American history who makes a significant contribution to the black movement by uniting the black power and fighting for the black right.The Autobiography of Malcolm X(1965)co-authored by Malcolm and black writer Alex Haley narrates the spiritual transformation of Malcolm X,and shows how Malcolm realizes the personal transformation from a criminal as an unprivileged black man to an African American leader.Up to now,the studies of this Autobiography conducted by scholars at home and aboard mainly focus on these three parts,namely,the narration of the Autobiography,the redemption or transformation of Malcolm X,and Malcolm X under the gender studies.Though some studies have been done from the perspective of masculinity,there is few researches about the overall masculine transformations of the autobiographical Malcolm X and reasons for each transformation.This thesis draws mainly on Australian sociologist R.W.Connell's “masculinity theory”,so as to analyze the full transformations of Malcolm's masculinities and reasons behind them.Meanwhile,the “cool pose” theory proposed by Richard Majors and Janet Billson,and “Progressive Black Masculinities” by Athena D.Mutua are also introduced into the paper to further reveal how factors like race,class and religion shape the black masculinity of Malcolm X.The main body of this paper consists of three chapters.Based on the “masculinity theory”,the first chapter discusses how young Malcolm as an unprivileged black male experiences the emasculation of black masculinity in a racist world.The second chapter reveals that by performing “Cool Pose”,Malcolm presents a “protest masculinity”,taking back some ownership of his body and resisting the oppression exposed by the White society;meanwhile,it also analyzes the negative impact of “Cool Pose” upon Malcolm's development.The third chapter introduces the “progressive black masculinity” theory into the analysis of Malcolm's reinvention under the teaching of religion.In this stage,Malcolm transforms himself from an ex-convict to the black religious and political leader and realizes the progressive remake of black masculinity.The analysis of this paper shows that,religious belief rectifies Malcolm's negative perceptions of race,and finally guides him towards the construction of progressive Black masculinity.Also,the paper comes up with practical significance.The legendary life transformation Malcolm depicts in the Autobiography,and his final successful practice on Black masculinity provide a workable plan for the mass Afro-American males in the non-mainstream community.This feasible way focuses on defining and persists in the progressive Blackness combined with the effortless commitment to bettering the lives of all Afro-American people.