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Malcolm x the ballot or the bullet analysis
Malcolm x and rhetorical devices
Malcolm x the ballot or the bullet analysis
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There’s a lot of things that make any speech different from the other which could range from the speaker’s tone, the message and how effectively they executed it. However, one speech that truly caught my attention was “The Ballot or the Bullet” that was given by Malcolm X. It was given on April 3, 1964 at the Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland Ohio in front of an audience that was a little over 2,000 (Quote). The genre of this speech would be considered political. Malcolm X was one of the many people during this time that were trying to end racial inequality and gave this speech in order to motivate his followers and others that they should continue to fight for civil rights and should utilize their constitutional right to vote in order to end this discrimination. …show more content…
In the beginning of his speech he begins by addressing that he is a muslim however, despite this shouldn’t divide the African American community because his speech is going to acknowledge everyone and however they’re all experiencing the common experience.
For instance, he says ‘it’s time for us to submerge our difference and realize that it’s best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem(Quote). This is an effective way to catch the audience's attention and make them feel like they’re all included because even though many can come from different places they can all make a difference together to end racial inequality. Moreover, since the speech was given during an election year he highlights how whatever the black community decides to vote it will be influential and they have power to slowly make a change. Since a lot of the politicians during this year would come into their neighborhoods and tell them who they should vote for this the year that it needs to change since they are always promising false promises. One of the powerful statements that was given in this speech was that emphasized that the Black community should vote occured when he said “A ballot is like
bullet. You don’t throw ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket’ (Quote). His tone in voice was angry, firm and made the statement more sound convincing. In addition, in his speech he also used pathos when discussing Black nationalism. Since, voting rights is one of the steps to creating the black nationalism because the citizen have the power while he also stating that the black man should control the politics and politicians in the community (Quote). Subsequently, this continues to make the audience clap more and roar in agreement because his statement is aligning with their belief that instead of having the people who have continually let them down for years this is the year that they do something about it. Overall, Malcolm X would often start his sentence slowly and once he reaches near the end of his sentence or is trying to emphasize an important part he will increase his tone in voice that shows that he’s not scared to say what is on his mind. He would constantly use repetition such as comparing the ballot and bullet to inspire his audience to get into the voting booths. Moreover, he would also use language that would could be considered degartogry against whites during this time such as “hunkies” and “blue eyed thing” multiple times in his speech could be considered that he wanted to create fear for the white community and possibly make the Blacks in his audience feel more powerful. His effectiveness to persuade the audience to listen to his advice is convincing by the constant
The speech I chose was Cal Ripken Jr.’s it was given at the Orioles home ball park, Camden Yards at his last home game before retiring. It is a special occasion speech and was given in front of over 48,000 fans. He used a tried and true opening sentence that although a little altered had a very familiar ring. He opened with “As a kid, I had this dream” a very loose but familiar take on MLK’s “I have a dream”. This was a great attention getter and probably had people on their feet immediately. This audience was already motivate to hear his speech so that was not an issue. Most of the fans were there for the purpose of hearing his retirement speech. He did not preview his points in the introduction he addressed those in the body of his speech one at a time. He did not try to establish credibility as he was speaking about himself so who knows more about him than himself.
Speeches are similar in one aspect, they all bring their own personal message to the world in compelling ways Chief Joseph’s “On Surrender at Bear Paw Mountain, 1877” and Susan B. Anthony’s “On Women’s Right to Vote” are no exemptions. Though both are from a prolonged oppressed or minority group in their time such as the women’s suffrage for Anthony and Native American Relations with the United States for Chief Joseph. In addition they have a similar point of view against the US government and their relationship with it, but they differ in some specifics. Their concepts and utilities like rhetorical appeals are different to support best their own circumstances as Chief Joseph’s speech is announcing a surrender and thus uses mainly pathos
“It’ll be the ballot or it’ll be the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death.” These are the famous words of Malcolm X in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. In April, 1964 Malcolm X stood in front of a large crowd in Cleveland, Ohio and explained what the ballot or bullet meant. He was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and fought to make all African-Americans equal. Malcolm X explained to his audience using a great appeal to ethos, pathos and logos that African-Americans should fight for racial economic and social justice without different religion views standing in the way. He told his audience instead of fighting, meaning the bullet, they could vote for their own leaders or better leaders to represent them, meaning the ballot.
What he was claiming was that African Americans slaves were born in the United States so they should be entitled to same American values given to the white Americans. He also goes ahead to bash the government for the attitudes towards his people and goes on to explain how he feels they are be exploited. His impact that he intended to have from this speech had been to bring freedom to African American’s by letting proper democratic ideals decide who is entitled to what rights. During the time of the speech he said black American’s should be ashamed to celebrate this holiday due to the misdeeds and unfair enforcement of these laws. His main take away from this was that the slavery going on in America was harmful and illegal because they violated the founding father principle rights. Throughout him speaking he goes on to undercut many powerful institutions in America that are simply letting slavery go on and not doing anything about it (Church). He is a very faithful man and believes looking back at his sentiments will ring home and show that he was inevitably correct in due time. In conclusion this ties to the ideas that African Americans should not have to celebrate this holiday until they feel like they are being equally treated under the same law are the white
He talks about how the emancipation is very important to us African Americans, but to other white people it was just a speech because it did not really involve them, so they really just did not care because it was not their history. As Americans, I feel we share the same history because it was just not the blacks that got everything passed for them, but it was also the whites because we all played a separate part with it. When issues like this come up I just look back on the elections of my president Obama. Every one said that us as African Americans we got him into office both times, but if the whole black population would of voted just for Obama he would not have won.... ...
Speeches are a method of persuading people to do something. For Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, their speeches were to bring equality for the people of color. However, their approaches are different. Consequently, the effects may be different. An example of their contrasting differences is a speech from each, King’s “I Have a Dream” and X’s “The Black Revolution”. Their speeches used pathos, a central metaphor, and a warning, but was presented differently.
He speaks to all the citizens of the nation and specifically to the members of the Congress. The purpose of the speech is to pass the Voting Rights Act, mainly for African Americans, to create greater equality in our society. He mentioned the incident in Selma, Alabama, and he stated, “One good man, a man of God, was killed” (Johnson 1). He explained the situation and gave many other statements about the amount of hatred that was still around at the time.
Assuredly, the purpose of this speech was to enlighten the minds of many Black Americans and engaged them in the fight for the civil rights. They now understand the situation at hand based on the vivid details expressed by X in his speech. As a result of X speaking up for the nation of blacks, he instilled the idea that African Americans should vote and become more politically active, by this motivation, he has established a new philosophy in the minds of the Black Americans, that being to seek equality.
In his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X’s tone is objective, yet motivating and optimistic, as he describes the theory of black nationalism, which he thinks all blacks must embrace in order to unite as a community under a single goal, to achieve equality. Through the use of factual evidence, schemes, and personal pronouns, Malcolm X builds on his ethos as he makes himself a more credible, trustworthy speaker about the dire situation of blacks. In the beginning of the speech, Malcolm X builds a personal profile of himself, as he mentions that he is a Muslim. However, after doing so, he disregards religion, claiming it does not matter. He states, “Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics, or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences.” His authoritative and didactic tone here contributes to his ethos as it makes him sound credible.
He is very optimistic about his speech in the first line. However, he bluntly addressed the issues of hardship, which African-Americans endured while America was beginning to become a stronger symbol of hope and freedom. He acknowledged the experience of wealth which his race became accustomed to, the ghetto poverty. He recognized the right of each color and pale man who contains the right to live, liberty, and the pursuit of true happiness. As bluntly as he began his speech, he boldly pointed out the Supreme Law of The Land- the Constitution - and quoted the Declaration of Independence as it was.
One speech that I find to be one of the most famous in all of American history is Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream Speech from 1963. The historical implications of the speech were impressive, providing the momentum for the Civil Rights Act by building popular support. This speech is one of the most famous speeches in the United States. It is taught in history classes, and any student could tell you what the speech is about. It is easy to teach in middle, and high school because of the heavy use of metaphors, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” (King). By connecting his message to everyday actions such as drinking, MLK is able to have his entire audience understand his message no matter the color of their skin. His image heavy metaphors allow for an entire nation of people to understand what he is talking about. In addition to the metaphors, MLK employs clichés to get his points across, “Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning” (King). Even though most critics think clichés are paramount with poor writing, that is not actually the case. MLK wanted to spread his message to the most people possible. One way to do that is to use language that everyone will understand. His use of clichés is not poor writing, instead it is brilliant for what he was trying to achieve. The speech became
Dr. King brilliantly weaves so many subtleties into such a relatively short speech that almost 50 years later it still must be analyzed to no end. Dr. King was a southern Baptist preacher before he was sucked into the leading role of the civil rights movement, I’m sure that had a great effect on his ability to give a speech. Dr. King knew just what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. From this we can see Dr. King’s lasting effect, and the fact that although we have come far in the area of civil rights, we still have a long way to go and it will be Dr. King’s timeless words that usher us into a new era of prosperity and brotherhood.
equality. His speech highlights his main points of his speech while using rhetorical devices that the
In mentioning the Emancipation Proclamation he shows that our ancestors signed a contract, in which all human beings are created equal, and therefore should be treated in the same way as others. He also visualizes his ideas with visual examples, which everybody can understand. “America has given the black population a bad check, which has come back marked insufficient funds”( I Have a Dream) In one paragraph of his speech he mentions that the “black population has come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. but we refuse to believe, that the bank of justice is bankrupt and that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation” (316).
King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this