CHAPTER 4 - Page 56
"Shorty would take me to groovy, frantic scenes in different chicks' and cats' pads, where with the lights and juke down mellow, everybody blew gage and juiced back and jumped. I met chicks who were fine as May wine, and cats who were hip to all happenings."
Hmmm...
"That paragraph is deliberate, of course; it's just to display a bit more of the slang that was used by everyone I respected as 'hip' in those days. And in no time at all, I was talking the slang like a lifelong hipster."
Well there you have it.
Malcolm has conformed to the lingo of the people he has been associated with through his time at the dance hall. The party-goers and the bigs who run everything -- their ways are rubbing off on young Malcolm and he is becoming one of them. He is conforming which is surprising as it goes against some household civil rites.
The Negroes were not to be subjected to the white's unjust laws and conform to society where they were forced to be treating badly and given lowly, minimalistic jobs with little to no pay. They were to be assimilated into white culture. These are just examples of somethings that are later preached against, yet Malcolm now chooses to weave himself into this group. His 'conformity' here is ironic as the man most know has stated many a time that he is against conforming to the white folk and expects action from his Negro brotherhood.
Nice. This is a good entry. Conformity has different meanings.
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