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Each of this men used books in different ways to advance their own knowledge of the world that they live in. From a very young age, Benjamin Franklin was very fond at reading and any money that came Into his hands; e will use to purchase books. Franklin would read any time that was available to him, from the books that either his father had, or that he borrowed from a local store. By working at the print shop that his brother James owned, gave Benjamin Franklin plenty of time to develop his love of books and reading.
As a boy, Franklin spent many hours debating various topics with a friend, his name was John Collins, Franklin realized that he was not up to par with his friend, as he says in his autobiography, “He was naturally more eloquent, had a ready plenty of words… “. When the debating continued through letters, Franklin realized his shortcomings as a writer as well and sought to Improve his skills. “l sat down to put my arguments In writing… Fell short In elegance of expression, and determined to endeavor at improvement. ” In the same manner Malcolm X had a similar experience in prison with an inmate called “”.
Malcolm was Jealous of Bimbo’s knowledge and the way he took charge of any conversation he entered. Not only that, but Malcolm X was frustrated by the fact that he was a poor reader and writer as he mentions in his autobiography, “. Every book I picked up had few of the words that might as well have been in Chinese… “L became Increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters that I wrote. ” In a like manner, both men copied other works to increase their vocabulary and improve their writing skills.
Franklin, by working at his brother printing press, he got hold of a publication called “The Spectator” and start copying from the pages of the book paving the way to extend his vocabulary and permitting him to be a better writer as he states, “Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. ” Likewise, Malcolm X used a similar method by copying the words on a dictionary on a tablet as he says, “In my slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting, I copied into my tablet everything printed on that first page, down to the punctuation marks. Both, Franklin and Malcolm X became better writers by self-teaching themselves, no matter the time and pain this method took. So consumed and entrenched were In their studies, that they spent every single ounce of free time reading and writing. Franklin would sit “up in my room reading the greatest part of the night. ” Whereas, Malcolm X will devote all his free time to read van after dark as he mentions “Fortunately, right outside my door was a corridor light that cast a glow in my room. The glow was enough to read by… Also, both men had access to huge volumes of different books. Franklin would borrow with a large collection of books, his name was Mr.. Matthew Adams that invited Franklin to see his library and loan him as much books as he wanted. In a similar manner.