Malcolm X and Julius Caesar Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Malcolm X and Julius Caesar - Assignment Example His father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, was governor of the province of Asia while his mother, Aurelia Cotta, was from an influential family (Fuller 9). He got the privileged education and as a child, under his father’s watchful eye he would drive a goat chariot, pretending to be a triumphant general, perhaps an early pointer to the triumphs that would later define his adult life. Rome was ruled by such families and from an early age, the young Caesar could have been indoctrinated with the idea that his role in life was to pursue the highest political ambitions and carry on the family name. Malcolm X – born Malcolm Little – on the other hand, was born into a family on the lower ranks of the socioeconomic spectrum. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a housewife who spent her time taking care of the family’s eight children while his father was a Baptist pastor and civil rights protester. The young Malcolm, therefore, did not have a cozy childhood the which Caesar had. One begins to see how these two men would grow to embrace the causes and have the approaches to life around them that they had in their later lives – one seeking to conquer and the other seeking to be free. Events, however, begin to shape these two lives that started out so different towards a common destiny of greatness. Both Ceasar and Malcolm X grew up in turbulent environments. The background would help give them the steely determination and ruthless ambition which they would later use to advance their respective causes. Caesar’s formative years were a time of turmoil in the Roman Republic; there were several wars from 91 BC to 82 BC. Roman politics was highly polarized. Caesar’s father suddenly died when the young Caesar was in his teens and was forced to be head of the family. He needed a guide and someone to protect him, especially from the then dictator, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who did not like the Caesar family. He found this in the p erson of his distinguished uncle, Gaius Marius, who had achieved a position of immense importance in Roman politics and warfare. Marius was regarded as a champion of the underprivileged of Italy and with his guidance Caesar became a confident young man (Fuller 15). From around 82 BC to 80 BC, though, the dictator, Sulla, began to rid Rome of his enemies and Caesar was among the individuals targeted. Marius had died by now and Caesar was left vulnerable to Sulla’s reign of terror. The environment was so hostile, and he fled Rome to Asia Minor. Malcolm X, too, grew up in a particularly hostile environment. It was at a time when racial discrimination was at its height. His father’s civil rights activism encouraged death intimidation from the white supremacist group, Black Legion, making them migrate twice before Malcolm’s fourth birthday (Biography 1). It is noted in his biography on his official website that in 1929, Malcolm's family home in Michigan was burned by arsonists, and two years later â€Å"†¦Earl’s body was found lying across the town’s trolley tracks† (1). Malcolm and his other siblings were split up amongst various foster homes and orphanages. Hostility would remain with both Malcolm and Caesar even in their adult lives as public figures and eventually lead to their assassination.  Ã‚