The Rhetorical Analysis Of Malcolm X

In 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet” which described how African Americans should fight for civil-rights in America. Malcolm X emphasizes the importance of voting as a solution to ending discrimination against African Americans. He addresses both the poor voting decisions and also the denial of legitimate voting rights to African Americans. Because elections had been so narrowly decided in recent elections, the Black vote is the deciding factor in elections. Whites also have prevented African Americans in the electoral process. Malcolm X says that either "the ballot or the bullet" will come next in the civil rights struggle. This meant that government must allow African Americans to legitimately vote or

Can reading really be influential? Do you believe that reading can change lives? Malcolm X, one of the most influential man of his time thought so. One day he was able to turn his life around by just picking up a book and learning how to read. Whether it was in a jail cell or in a library he was reading wherever he went. In Malcolm X’s essay “Literacy Behind Bars” he writes about the topic of how reading changed his life. Throughout his life in prison, Malcolm X shares his experience of how learning how to read had changed his life forever. This essay shows how the ability to read and write opens new pathways into your imagination that you may not be able to experience if you lacked the ability to do so. Learning how to become literate did not come easy back then especially since he was African American. During his life in prison he realized that you do not need a college education to be successful; you just need to know how to read and write. The way Malcolm structured his essay helped improve his ethos much like other things did. Malcolm X’s encouraging tone was evident throughout the essay. He writes his essay with such a tone, because he is explaining his personal struggle of learning how to read and how it paid such dividends in his life after prison. By using this type of tone he appeals to people’s emotions through the use of logos, which in result helps build his ethos. As well as his tone he also uses different rhetorical devices to keep the reader engaged. The use of irony throughout the essay in appealing to the reader because it keeps them interested in the essay that they are reading. Similarly, his use of opposition within the essay makes the reader think about what they are reading. People may need to reread a sentence or two because how the opposition is used in the essay, which keeps them focused and aware of what they are reading. By utilizing several rhetorical devices, including pathos, opposition, and ethos, that being said, Malcolm X conveys the message of how reading changed his life.

The first device that Malcolm x uses to make his claim that “blacks need to exercise their voting right in either a peaceful or violent manner”, is by using emotional appeals. One example of this is when he states “The year when all of the white political crooks will be right back in your and my community with their false promises, building up our hopes for a letdown, with their trickery and their treachery, with their false promises

April 3, 1964, Malcolm X gives his well renowned speech; The Ballot or the Bullet in Cleveland Ohio. His purpose behind the speech is to encourage African-Americans of the United States to stand up to the unfair treatment that he believes they receive. Throughout the speech, Malcolm X creates an ambition in the audience, encouraging change through the numerous uses of ethos, logos, and pathos. Malcolm X uses his personal experiences to show the audience that he has experienced the same negativity that they do everyday. X suggests everyone should be treated equally; religion, gender and race aside. His audience was made up of a majority of African-Americans, he uses the common ground of wanting to achieve equal treatment to show his audience he is on the same side as them. Through the organization of the speech, it is rhetorically effective. He practices the phrase “The Ballot or the Bullet” which uses repetition, forcing listeners to remember the phrase which later becomes more effective. X begins using ethos by introducing himself, immediately gaining the attention of the audience as well as respect of the audience. X then makes the current problem in the African-American community extremely clear to the audience, this is his use of pathos, where he engages them in his thought process and bringing them in using emotion. The speech uses rhetoric to emotionally and logically

Malcom X gives his speech during a time in American history when equality and civil rights between blacks and whites had not yet been established. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X also fought for the civil rights of Black Americans in the 1960s, but using different tactics. Malcom X was angry that Congress had opposed bills that were intended to support the equality and civil liberties of African Americans. In the North, where Blacks were allowed to vote, White politicians came to Black communities with promises they did not intend to keep in exchange for black votes. Malcom X urged the African American community to fight in order to gain the equal rights they deserved, by either through immediate grant of the vote (the ballot) and if denied the vote, blacks should engage in violent opposition to the white rule (the bullet). Malcom X’s stature as a civil rights leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam helped strengthen these appeals.

Malcom X gives his speech during a time in American history when equality and civil rights between blacks and whites had not yet been established. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X also fought for the civil rights of Black Americans in the 1960s, but using different tactics. Malcom X was angry that Congress had opposed bills that were intended to support the equality and civil liberties of African Americans. In the North, where Blacks were allowed to vote, White politicians came to Black communities with promises they did not intend to keep in exchange for black votes. Malcom X urged the African American community to fight in order to gain the equal rights they deserved, by either through immediate grant of the vote (the ballot) and if denied the vote, blacks should engage in violent opposition to the white rule (the bullet). Malcom X’s stature as a civil rights leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam helped strengthen these appeals. Throughout his speech, Malcom X shifts between various tones to make his speech more impactful towards his audience. He mainly spoke in an assertive tone, which proved the seriousness of his arguments. During his rhetoric appeals, it is evident that X moved into subtle changes of mood and tone to captivate the emotions of his audience.

Malcolm X shows nothing but pure fanaticism throughout his speech and encourages the listeners to make a changes. This intensity and passion makes his overall point stronger. He addresses multiple topics such as voting rights, civil rights, and social inequality and voices his opinions in a more aggressive way than other activists, making him more unique and stand out from the

Since the creation of the United States of America there has constantly been a problem with civil rights. Even though African Americans fought for their freedom and rights, they are still facing similar obstacles that they were in the past. There are no real great leaders of the civil rights movement today but in the peak of the civil rights era there were two frontman that advocated for African American rights. One was Martin Luther King Jr., and the other was Malcolm. Martin Luther King Jr’s approach was very different from Malcolm X’s because he used peaceful uprising, while Malcolm X was examined as more assertive. In response to Martin Luther King Jr’s “ I Have A Dream” speech, Malcolm X delivered a speech called “ The Ballot or the Bullet”. In this speech Malcolm is trying to explain the reasons black people needed to stand against the American government. In “ The Ballot or the Bullet” Malcolm X uses the rhetorical terms of ethos, logos and pathos to persuade his listeners and readers.

The 1960s were a tumultuous time in American history, where many Americans were rejecting the status quo, and advocating for the advancement of their rights. The feminist movement, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans were all making noise and calling for change. Malcolm X, who at that point was mostly known through his work with the Nation of Islam, had had a falling out with the NOI, and after a pilgrimage to Mecca, came back to the US with a new ideology and approach to the racial issues. In his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X uses the repetition of a single phrase- “the ballot or the bullet- to summarize his argument, present a dichotomy,

The Nation of Islam strongly disagreed and forbade its members and especially Malcolm X from taking part in the political scene (Litwack pg 7). Malcolm knew that if the black population continued to act as a separate community while also avoiding political action, they would never achieve equality. The Nation of Islam strongly disagreed and forbade its members and especially Malcolm X from taking part in the political scene (Litwack, pg 7).  These differing viewpoints and the growing jealousy of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm’s mentor and leader of the Nation of Islam, were the fundamental reasons not only for him leaving the Nation of Islam but for the entire tone of  “the Ballot or the Bullet” speech (Haley, pg 1).

In New York City on March 22 1964, Malcolm X delivered his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” Malcolm X, a minister of the Nation of Islam and revolutionary advocator of nationalism in the black community, imparted this speech with the intent to reach the black population in a time of change. The adept use of ethos, pathos, and logos to build and maintain a compelling argument, brings about a call to action and firmly conveys his ideas within the black population. Within ethos, pathos, and logos, the implication of elevated language, loaded words, and logical statements, attains a sense of credibility, assurance, and cogency.

Malcolm X gave the speech at Cory Methodist Church during a symposium sponsored by CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality. "The Ballot or the Bullet" was one of many speeches which addressed a top issue in the United States at the time, that of civil rights. For a period of over twenty years, black Americans had actively been pursuing their civil liberties which they felt were being denied them. Over this prolonged period of time, several events could be highlighted for their contribution to the progress of the movement.

Malcolm X’s extreme views and takes on the solutions to racism were seen increasingly in the civil rights movement. If not for his assassination, he would have become a major competitor to Martin King’s way of protest. Although many negative actions were performed because of him, his influence was not all negative. He made the whites take him and his supporters seriously. If not for him, it is possible that King would not have been taken seriously either. He condemned the march on Washington - calling it, in his own autobiography, “the farce on Washington.” Because of Malcolm, hundreds, if not thousands of blacks did not march that day. Even though today many consider that a bad thing, he thought that the march demeaned and unempowered people of African-American descent.

On April 3, 1964, human rights activist and Muslim minister, Malcolm X, delivered his most famous speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” to a predominantly black audience during a meeting at the Cory Methodist Church sponsored by the Cleveland Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In the speech, Malcolm X implores African Americans of all faiths to stand up for themselves and fight against the political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation of African Americans at the hands of the white man. The speech was given shortly after Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, an African American political and religious movement, for which he had been the spokesman, and declared his willingness to cooperate with the Civil Rights Movement. Accordingly, he wanted to distance himself from the Nation of Islam, who critics have described as black supremacist and anti-Semitic, and expand his audience to include non-Muslim African Americans and moderates who viewed the Nation of Islam as too radical. Malcolm X begins his speech by successfully employing emotional appeals; he establishes common ground with his audience by discussing the collective experience of African Americans of all faiths in an oppressive, white America which invokes their anger and frustrations. Next, he builds his credibility, using numbers and federal law to expose the “political con-game” being played by the Democratic Party, with African Americans as its victims, and encourage blacks to uses

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” was one of the most significant and powerful speeches delivered during the Civil Rights era. X, an advocate for civil rights, was also an influential leader who sought to end the complete and utter degradation of Black Americans. Conflicting with the peaceful and nonviolent Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was another important leader at his time, X believed in using any means necessary, including violence, to accomplish his goals. Because of his controversial methods, X was seen as a radical, causing many to disagree with his tactics. Without a doubt, X was definitely a great leader and excellent orator, regardless of his disputable views. He understood the influence of language and used that to his own advantage, as he created and delivered an inspiring speech to achieve his purpose. In “The Ballot or the Bullet,” X’s appeal to emotion, critical tone, and his overall consideration of his audience convinces Black Americans to hasten their fight for equality.