How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #4
Talking to them, laying down the plans, I had deliberately sat on a bed away from them. All of a sudden, I pulled out my gun, shook out all five bullets, and then let them see me put back only one bullet. I twirled the cylinder, and put the muzzle to my head.
"Now, I'm going to see how much guts all of you have," I said.
I grinned at them. All of their mouths had flapped open. I pulled the trigger-we all heard it click.
"I'm going to do it again, now."
They begged me to stop. I could see in Shorty's and Rudy's eyes some idea of rushing me.
We all heard the hammer click on another empty cylinder.
The women were in hysterics. Rudy and Shorty were begging, "Man. . . Red. . . cut it out, man!. . . Freeze!" I pulled the trigger once more.
"I'm doing this, showing you I'm not afraid to die," I told them. "Never cross a man not afraid to die. . . now, let's get to work!" (9.58)
At this point in the book, Malcolm X is at the end of his rope. He's addicted to drugs, he has no money, and he's even been run out of Harlem. He doesn't say it in the book, but that situation combined with this scene of actively trying to kill himself tells us that he was probably depressed.
Quote #5
The blond-haired, blue-eyed white man has taught you and me to worship a white Jesus, and to shout and sing and pray to this God that's his God, the white man's God. The white man has taught us to shout and sing and pray until we die, to wait until death, for some dreamy heaven-in-the-hereafter, when we're dead, while this white man has his milk and honey in the streets paved with golden dollars right here on this earth! (13.58)
While Christianity teaches that the poor will inherit the earth when they join God in heaven, the Nation of Islam teaches that there is no afterlife. How do you think these two different ways of thinking about death can affect how people live their lives?
Quote #6
And, speaking of funerals, I should mention that we never failed to get some new Muslims when non-Muslims, family and friends of a Muslim deceased, attended our short, moving ceremony that illustrated Mr. Muhammad's teaching, "Christians have their funerals for the living, ours are for our departed." (13.73)
The final sentence in that quote is kind of strange, isn't it? Aren't everybody's funerals for dead people? What Malcolm X means is Christians have ornate and elaborate funerals in comparison to members of the Nation of Islam. To him that's because Christians are attempting to ease the pain of losing someone. On the other hand, since dead people don't really care about parties, Nation of Islam funerals are pretty simple.