M.L.K and Malcolm X
The two most influential civil rights activists in American history were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They supported equal rights for every race, but when comparing MLK’s “I Have a Dream’ and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet,” one sees the similarities in their rhetorical styles and differences in their tone and message. As seen in “I Have a Dream,” MLK has a more civilized and peaceful solution to the nation’s problems; whereas in X’s he has a will to do whatever it may take to solve the problems.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X use the same rhetorical strategies to enhance their message in their speeches. One device or strategy is repetition. In King’s speech he repeated the phrase “I have a
…show more content…
Both King and X used the same methods to captivate their audiences towards their view, though communicated different messages.
King and X employed figurative language in their methods of persuading their audience. In King’s “I Have a Dream” speech he conveys the use of similes in the phrase, “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” in order to illustrate the need for justice until all are equal. He stresses the need of discrimination to end and for justice to let all nondiscriminatory in society. He used the negativity of injustice and turned it into a positive of justice being endless water that roars through a mighty stream that will forever be flowing. X also used similes to describe that all “negroes” are in the same boat and all will get the same treatment from the white man in the phrase, “…you’re going to catch hell just like I am.” He emphasizes that all “negroes” whether educated or illiterate or wealthy or poor will gain the same result of the hell that is being brought upon the by the same man who happens to be white. Both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X felt the lack of acceptance and the treachery being brought upon them by the white man in their use of similes.
Although Martin Luther King and Malcolm X may have used the same rhetorical devices to persuade the same general audience, both broadcasted entirely different messages, with entirely
Malcolm X used direct and to the point language, which could be understood, by all levels of society. He spoke in very casual, easy-to-understand words such as “all of that kind of stuff”, or “Just look here”, unlike Martin Luther King, who, in his speech, used many metaphors. “Mississippi will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice” (King 1963). King used his words in a very educated manner. This quality would appeal to all races including whites and African Americans. He is graceful and yet appealing to the black community. Malcolm X’s use of words reflected those of a man who came up out of the same world that he is struggling to set his people free from. He used “street talk” to appeal to his followers. Knowing that Malcolm X talked the same way his followers did, they felt a sense of
Persuasive writing is most effective when all three rhetorical appeals, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, come together to form an indisputable argument. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X are two of the most influential figures of the past few decades; similarly, their work is summarized as some of the most persuasive and controversial of all time. The audience of both of their pieces, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” include oppressed African Americans and the white oppressors themselves. Each man takes full advantage of the three rhetorical appeals to influence their audiences to support their radical theories about racial inequality in the 1960’s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is the most effective because of its hopeful emotions, irrefutable facts and, of course, the respected author.
Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are notable activists during the civil rights movement in America. They were leaders highly credited by the public. They carried similar, and different views on how to take on oppression in America. “Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom” (1966) by Martin Luther King and “The Ballot or the Bullet” (1964) by Malcolm X had points were they agreed with one another, points of controversy were the did not see eye to eye, and points of disagreement about violence in the civil rights movement.
People learn rhetorical devices as soon as they can speak. Phrases like, “watch your tone,” “use your words,” “don’t guilt trip,” and many others are taught to children while they develop skills to communicate and disagree affectively. As people grow older, they become more adept at developing convincing arguments. The use of specific types of: tone, diction, and the pistes allow a rhetor to influence an audience. Two people that used these rhetorical devices to great effect were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. King was a Baptist minister and humanitarian. X was a Muslim minister and activist. However, the two possessed diametrically opposed political philosophies. King pursued social reform by following in the peaceful tradition set forth by Mahatma Gandhi (Dasa). Malcolm X, on the other hand, was not averse to using violence. During the African-American Civil Rights Movement that occurred between 1954-1968 in the United States, X and King delivered a number of addresses in an attempt to affect social reform. Racism and segregation ran rampant in the 1900s, and the African-American movement of the 1960s was a massive step toward establishing racial equality in the United States. King and X led two extremely different approaches toward establishing equality. On one side, King spearheaded the nonviolent and passive approach. X was on the other end of the spectrum. He promoted immediate action and violence if necessary in order to
It has come to my attention that to get our freedom, there are two plans, one from Martin Luther King, Jr. and one from Malcolm X. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s plan is to solve our political issues through peace and Malcolm X’s plan supports violence and any other means necessary to win our freedom. I believe that the plan from Martin Luther King, Jr. is more correct in politics and morals. I know this because Martin Luther King, Jr. supports nonviolence, and there will be less fatalities if we go along with him. He sees and supports us as people, unlike Malcolm X, who does not see us as people that live lives and hope to move on from this movement after we succeed. Additionally, Martin Luther King, Jr. wants us to have successful futures, and he looks ahead to the future, the past, and the present. He fights for this, and Malcolm X only plans for and sees the present time.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X are equally categorized as courageous individuals; however the thoughts, actions, and beliefs as evidenced in their writings demonstrate that each chose a path opposite the other in exhibiting courageous actions. Through Martin Luther King Jr.’ speech, I’ve Been to the Mountain Top and Malcom X’s By any Means Necessary, we observe the steps that each of these Black Activist Leaders took in order to grasp the attention of African-Americans all while achieving results in moving the Black community upward toward equality.
Much can be said about both Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, whether it be about their separate views on racism in America extended over time, or how they both grew into their views by things that happened in the past, or how they feel racism should be taken care of in America in time etcetera etcetera; but they both have very interesting ways of wording their opinions to the public and how they tell their speeches to make every word matter. Both men were trying to reach the same goal through different strategies.
On the other hand, Malcolm X uses metaphors and satire in his speech to reach out to his audience. He compares those
During the 1960’s the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak, being headed by, arguably, two of the most recognizable faces in American history, Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. and Malcolm X. Rallying the Nation to action, rhetoric is effectively implemented in a “Letter from Birmingham Jail" and “The Ballot or the Bullet”. Martin Luther king Jr. and Malcolm X both use rhetoric to successfully call the reader to action, in ending segregation, that should have been taken yesterday.
The 1960’s signified a time of progress in the struggle for African American rights. Two prominent leaders in this movement were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was a Muslim minister who believed the injustice that existed against African Americans could be solved through separatism and self-defense. On the other hand, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist preacher, felt that the road to justice would be paved through nonviolent protest and integration. Both figures challenged the oppression inflicted on the African American community, however each individual championed different portrayals of their appeal to ethos, pathos, and logo to convey their belief that America needed an immediate change in the unjust social, economic, and political systems that existed at the time.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s paved a way towards a more racially harmonious America. Two famous men during this movement for the black community were Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Two very different men with two very different ideologies and two very different strategies towards equality. One was credited as the “Father of the Civil Rights Movement” while another one was a “hostile extremist” who encouraged violence only for self-defense. Both men made an impact on civil rights for the black community, but people were more gravitated towards King than they were to Malcolm X.
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were almost the complete opposites of each other. Even their message, tone, and sentence structure were different. Dr. King’s message was about how passion and faith could restore the broken promises of America and its government, tone being inspiring and using imagery, and sentence structure having compound complex sentences. Malcolm X’s message on the other hand was about how such things as passion and faith will do nothing to help their problems, tone being angry and frustrated, and sentence structure being brief and straight-to-the-point. It is very surprising how dissimilar these two men were with how they ended up in
In this essay, I will be highlighting the rhetorical devices Dr. King used to have a truly effective speech.
In Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Lincoln delivers a speech to the Union telling them not to give up and to fight against the Confederates. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” speech he addresses the problem of segregation and racial equality. Lincoln and Dr. King both have a similar purpose and that purpose is to bring change to the country. In this paper I will analyze how Lincoln and Dr. King persuaded the audience of bringing change to the country by using rhetorical devices.
Malcolm X frequently resolves to using call to action statements such as “its time in 1964 to wake up” (X). This makes his speech lack tangible impact take for example Harold Cruse’s viewpoint on Malcolm