Nurjannah

108014000082

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Book Response Form

Book title

: The Greatest; My Own Story

Author
: Muhammad Ali and Richard Durham
Publisher
: BALLANTINE BOOKS
Date published: July 1976
Genre
: Biography

Number of pages: 508

Why I decided to read the book of Muhammad Alis biography is because my

family and I are the big fans of him. My father often says that he is the greatest boxing
in this world. He says that Ali almost always win in all of his fights. He says that Ali is
the first Muslim boxer who is proud of being a Muslim and Islam also must be proud of
him because his success in boxing and his devotion to Islam rules. I think my father
does like him also because my brothers name is Ali, so he also felt proud of him. All
those of my fathers stories about Muhammad Ali had made me eager to know him
deeper.
The story was presented going forward and back. Ali and Durham presented the
story depend on theme which according to Alis feeling as a good story to tell. There are
22 themes in this book. Here they are; Shorty is Watching, The Gold Metal, Seven and
Two, The First Coming, The Prophecy of Sell-Out Moe, The Induction, God Bless the
Child, The Message is not for the Coward, Old friends and Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs in a
Park, Rumbling from the Grave, Resurrection, Gyms before Judgment, The Second
Coming, The Golden Dream, For the Victims, The Dinosaurs Meet, The Contract, The
Bossman Comes, Archie, Am I Too Old?, Bomaye, Manila: September 30, 1975.
My personal experience related to the book is the time Belinda become
uncontrolled after knowing that Ali was defeated by Northon. That time is as same as
my best-friends experience, Islamiyah. Islamiyah also became uncontrolled when
Supardi was defeated by Yahya in an arm wrestling competition. She yelled Yahyas
cheating, Yahyas cheating, then she was fainted.
As same as Ali does, I also do like Herberts characters. He was not just a good
manager, but he was also the best friend for Ali. He knows well what Ali wants. While I
like least in this book is when the people said and yelled to Ali You are savage, you are
coward. What the hell!! They said like that!! They said like that when Ali was defeated
by Northon. I know that they were disappointed, but that defeat is also not what Ali
wanted. He had worked and fought hard for this. He did not give up although his jaw
had already broken. Had he already proved his hard work by the broken of his jaw? In
my opinion, they are not the good fans.
The larger issues dealt with or raised by the story is when Ali changed his origin
name, from Cassius Marcellus Clay to Muhammad Ali, many publications like the New
York Times against using his new name. Many people in Houston asked; how could that
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boy change his name? What is that boy doing? Then they heard he was a Black Muslim,
the word Black frightened everybody. No one had heard the word Black in Texas to
describe a so-called Negro at that time. Everyone was saying he was crazy. But he
could hold it. His relationship with Malcolm, his personal journey within the Nation of
Islam helped him to get his right and other black people.
What I can learn from Alis story is Alis hard working to become the greatest
boxer and to change his social status. Before, he started his first debut, he always goes
to gym so hard, and even when he had become a star, and he always goes to gym hardly
before his fight. He always has good self-confidence that he will win in his every fight.
I can learn also from Herberts loyalty to Ali. Hebert is a good manager as well as a
good friend for Ali. He is always in Alis side in happiness and sorrow. He is the person
who is at back of Alis success and also the person who supports in almost of Alis
problems. Like, Ali said; when Herberts constant probing broke the boycott against
me. He found an opening in Georgia, and like a Second Coming, the final, most
important part of my life as a fighter opened up
I think the kind of people that need to read this book is boxers because it can
help them about the strategies facing against in the ring, motivate them to become
strong, brave, and serious in running that profession. Other people that need to read this
book is a white people because in this book there was an issue that Muslims hate the
white man. Ali said that actually, Muslims didnt hate the white man. It was like they
were not hate a tiger; but they knew that a tigers nature was not compatible with
peoples nature because tigers love to eat people. So they didnt want to live with tigers.
It was the same with the white man. From the Alis explanation, it was hoped there was
not a quarrel more between Muslims and the white people.
I think the scale of this book is 3 because the writers use easy and familiar
language and they arrange the story well. An extraordinary narrative and visual
documentaries tell the true story of Alis life. Those support the statements and give
more interesting of this book. I think the writers use their heart on their sleeves in
writing this book. They deliver the powerful story. I do enjoy reading this book.