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The Civil Rights Movement has fought against the racial discrimination of African Americans. This movement created many African American leaders, one of them named Malcolm X. In Malcolm X’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” he encourages his fellow African American people to adopt the philosophy of Black Nationalism. To convey his message X incorporates allusions to American icons and historical events, repetition, and tone shifts. Malcolm X uses allusions in his speech to be able to create a visual representation for his audience so they can understand, why the Black community needs to adopt Black Nationalism. “Uncle Sam … blood...your and mine mothers and fathers…” is an example of how he uses allusions. This allusion forms an image of the American government being a criminal that kills innocent African Americans. This makes the audience feel anger and hate toward the government, and it helps X have a strong connection with the audience by the use of “your and mine.” With the audience having …show more content…
X repeats many times the definition of what Black Nationalism is. Malcolm X define Black Nationalism as the need for the Blacks to have the power of their own communities. By giving the definition more than once, X gives different examples of how Blacks can incorporate it into their lives. With this the audience is able to understand why Black Nationalism is needed in the Black community. The repetition of “human rights” is very important for X to be able to express what his intentions are with Black Nationalism. For the audience hearing human Rights over and over again makes them what to adopt Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism at this point is seen as a synonym to human rights. Malcolm X makes his point of why the the African Americans need to adopt the Black Nationalism lifestyle. The repetition X uses helps him achieve his point of the need of Black Nationalism in order to be able to obtain racial
Pathos is the appeal to emotion and Malcolm X uses a lot of pathos in his speech. Before getting into specific lines of his speech that use pathos, Malcolm X has a great usage of pathos by repeating the line “the ballot or the bullet.” This line created a sense of urgency that his audience needed to do something now to create change. He uses this effectively throughout his speech. A specific part of his speech that uses pathos is when he mentions about the march in Washington. He said “He made a chump out of you. He made a fool out of you. He made you think you were going somewhere and you end up going nowhere but between Lincoln and Washington.” This is an example of pathos because of how he spoke this in a way to spark anger in his audience. He is appealing to their anger towards the injustice they faced from the white man. Malcolm X purpose of trying to spark anger is because anger is a way to get someone passionate about an issue and more likely to do something about it. Another specific part of his speech that uses pathos is when he begins saying that African-Americans have never seen democracy. His exact words are “We don’t see the American dream. We see the American nightmare.” Again this is a way to spark anger in his audience over the injustice they have faced. Malcolm X did not believe in violence, his intent was not to get his audience angry and react out in violence, but to vote for future. This is why he
Additionally, the two men incorporated imagery into their speeches. By instilling vivid descriptions of their visions for the future into their audience, they were able to increase the effectiveness of using pathos and present a clear perspective of their beliefs. Dr. King primarily used imagery metaphorically throughout his speech. Phrases like "lonely island of poverty", "dark and desolate valley of segregation", and "solid rock of brotherhood" emphasized the emotion he's trying evoke from the audience. Malcolm X used descriptive words as well when he said, “The black revolution… is sweeping down upon America like a raging forest fire. It is only a matter of time before America herself will be engulfed by these black flames…” Malcolm's purpose
He talks about the extent of brainwashing the Black community was under at the time. He wants to begin addressing the issue with African Americans in releasing themselves from the mindset that they are inferior in comparison to what he calls the “White man”. Malcolm X stresses the importance of the Black community of having to understand that their success isn’t dictated by another race rather than their own selves. He wants his race to change their mindsets as desegregation laws are taking place, because if they don’t, that will still exist mentally within their community and they won’t be able to properly value themselves as who they are. Belief in yourself is essential for your
...shows a stark contrast between the American ideal and America's. 'victims' encounter, saying, "I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare. Furthermore, he vehemently denies that any black is American through an interesting and rather confrontational metaphor: I'm not going to sit at your table and watch you eat with nothing on. my plate and call myself a dinerâ€Sitting at a table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate." Thus, Malcolm X uses his speech to unify the Negroes on two fronts.
On the following page, Malcolm X adds that “1964 threatens to be the most explosive year America has ever witnessed.” He makes an argument that the white politicians, looking for votes from the black community, will make “false promises which they don’t intend to keep” with “their trickery and their treachery.” Malcolm X’s tone here is compelling, yet also unwavering, and leaves no room for argument. This, once again, builds on his ethos as he sounds very believable while doing so. In the following paragraphs, Malcolm X constantly repeats that he is not an American, claiming that if he was, he “wouldn’t need any” legislation or amendments to the Constitution. The parallel structure of these sentences makes him sound more trustworthy, and the audience would clearly be personally affected by this
Malcolm X begins breaking down the bridge between Black and White America at the beginning of the speech, phrasing his sentences in such a way as to convince his audience of the fact that your place of residence does not determine who you are, and therefore blacks shouldn't identify with White America. Though blacks are considered "citizens" of the United States, Malcolm X asserts "Everything that came out of Europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American. As long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet." Malcolm X continuously refers back to the concept for the rest of his speech, stating that blacks are not Americans; rather, they are "just" Africans. He begins the sentence with "Everything that came out of Europe," creating the impression that absolutely everybody from Europe was accepted into American society, including low class criminals and other people of such low moral character, while all blacks, even highly educated individuals such as MLK, Jr. are still looked down upon in societythis statement fuels the already passionate and strong hatred of his black audience.
When giving his speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” Malcolm X spoke in a content and tone that made this speech very impactful to his audience and listeners which is still relevant today. Malcolm X was convinced that voting was the way to change racial prejudice in America. The Ballot or the Bullet is directed at African Americans and encourages them to stand up for their rights at all costs. He spoke with such knowledge, attitude and passion that put emphasis on the importance of African Americans being educated and educating themselves on politics. Malcolm X was a prominent spokesman of the civil rights era, his words when spoken were very potent and influential especially in the black community.
The author is clear with the content and has no fear of telling the truth just as Malcolm X expressed himself. Malcolm 's character is strong and full of expression good and bad, Malcolm uses every inch of his time to become the exact person he wishes to be and strives to have the knowledge of whatever may be unknown. Malcolm had a love for his heritage history and what is also expressed is that African Americans are not always seen as the problem. There are many points in the book where it speaks of a white man being the “devil” which is a strong word used for the people who are generally always saying that African Americans are the problem and the ones to blame. The authors purpose is to educate the readers is many different ways and does it through every chapter in various amounts of writing, which describes the beauty and content incredibly
In order to prove to his audience of what power they could have when they unite and that they have been made “chumps” by a “white nationalist” government, Malcolm X builds his speech on the three rhetorical proofs. He uses logos in the form of deductive reasoning and occurrences to show that black people have been victimized by the white-run government, and to give them a solution; he uses ethos to establish his character and status as a freedom fighter as well as to bring together black Americans; and he uses pathos through repetition a...
Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X manipulate the audience’s emotions, pathos, throughout the speech. However, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X use pathos in different ways. Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos to create a patriotic and welcoming feeling throughout the audience. In his opening paragraph, he greets the audience by stating he is “happy” to speak to the audience. Throughout the speech, he includes positive words to reinforce the welcoming feeling such as “hope” (101), “joyous” (101), “magnificence” (101), and “great” (101). In addition, he adds a patriotic feeling in the crowd to show that people of color are not different from white people. He includes an American song, My Country Tis’ of Thee, as well as repeating the word “together” (103) in another paragraph. He uses the last line of My Country Tis’ of Thee, “let freedom ring” (104), towards the end of the speech to emphasize that the people of color are similar to white people. By using the song, he is showing that both African Americans and white people know the song.
...ack Nationalism to coexistence. He pointed out how America can live without racial problems that it had since slavery. This was a road trip for Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam which used the name of Islam to promote its own social and political agenda to that of true Islam, which allows Malcolm X to see an alternative approach towards his objectives.. George Breitman in his book “The Last Year of Malcolm X” states “…if they adopt Malcolm’s strategy, accept his legacy and develop it n accord with the logic of the direction in which he was moving during his last year, then all of America will be transformed…” Reading the Ballot or the Bullet after knowing this will make one think beyond the actual words that are mentioned in the speech. Today, because of his boldness, Malcolm X is viewed by many, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., as a great civil rights leader.
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
The Negro revolution is a stagnant fight; the black revolution is a fight with one decisive winner. In this talk of revolution he also pointed out the hypocrisy of the American people on the subject of violence. How many black people will to go war for a country that hates them and do not even want them in the country, but when a white man strikes them they turned a blind eye because “peace” is the answer. “If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad”(MalcomX, Message to the Grassroots), many people would agree with this sentiment. Why condemn those who want to fight for something they believe in using violence when we as a country are doing the same thing overseas. Later in the speech, Malcolm X calls out the modern house Negros we have today in the United States. A house Negro was the slaves who stayed in the living quarter with their master and were maids and butlers and tended to the children. The latter are the filed Negros who worked in the fields and stayed in
When analyzing the powerful and informative speech of Malcolm X, its evident that it’s a memorable one. The tonality of the speech employs anger and seriousness. This causes the audience to also to be filled with immense anger as he opens their understanding about the disputes going on in the society. Malcolm X employs the use of repetition throughout the speech, repeating phrases such as "I am not...". This repetition helps to leave a lasting impression on the audience, in such a way that every time the phrase is used, the people will reflect upon the speech of Malcolm X. In addition, repetition is again utilize when X continuously uses the words "you", "hunkies," "polacks," and "blue eyed thing."...
Malcolm X’s speech appeals to the emotions of his young audience, rousing them to anger; and at the same time, striking fear into the ears and hearts of his many whiter listeners. Malcolm uses several methods to rouse his black audience to anger. One of Malcolm’s main methods, copying King’s own, is repetition. King kept repeating the phrase “I have a dream,” Malcolm repeats the words “I am not . . .” This repetition becomes a catch phrase of every black body in the audience, to identify with Malcolm’s words. In case they have missed it, he re-emphasizes by using the word “you,” repeating it over and over again. He let’s every individual in the room, every “you” within the sound of his voice, and within the range of his speech as reported in the media, identify with his claim that “I am not an American,” but a victim of “A...