Blog Post 17 - Paper 1 Practice

Speech by Malcolm X "The ballot or the bullet"

A political speech extracted from the Ballot of The bullet by Malcolm X uses a variety of literary devices in order to attract and appeal to his audience. His audience is clearly is identified throughout the speech with are African-Americans who are not able to see how they are being deceived by the common white Americans. Malcolm aims to bring knowledge about the powers that devours the nation and how white Americans are using this power to belittle and make African Americans seem worthless and insignificant. The text is trying to persuade and encourage black Americans to stand up for their freedom and not to allow any white man to bring them down. Malcolm X uses aggressive and harsh terms to define a white man, and to ensure that black Americans understand where they  are placed in society, from class to occupation. The text makes the audience feel empowered yet making them realize that they  do hold a certain extent of power in society. The atmosphere changes throughout the speech, where in the first paragraph it is more encouraging and in the second paragraph it's more self – obtaining and acknowledgable.  

In the first paragraph, Malcolm X uses repetition countless of times in order to emphasizes his ideas to his audiences, like the words “philosophy”, “change”, and “black nationalism”. These words also further establishes who the audience is and how easily they can engage with the speech. The word “philosophy” which is used as a hyperbole, reinforces the idea of one's attitude or faith towards a situation, where in this case is the Civil Rights Movement and the power that white Americans has over black Americans. The word “change” which is also used as a hyperbole emphasizes how black Americans who do not know the power that white Americans has, should change their attitude towards the situation and should not change their ways, traditions, cultures or pattern of thought to eliminate constraints of power. In this paragraph, Malcolm X explains how the thinking mind of an African American is essential during this time because you do not lose your train of thought, culture and customs. He further uses imagery to persuade the audience whereby allows them to think about what they are doing, where he says “once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern…” etc. This is directly aimed at African Americans who do not think as one. He approaches them with a direct clause which will make them to be hooked with the message he is trying to convey. Towards the end of the paragraph, Malcolm X again uses imagery where firstly used words to describe a white American like 'coward' and 'champ'. Secondly, these words defines what Malcolm X thinks  of white Americans and is trying to tell his audience that black Americans has been overlooked way too long and it's time for people to stand up for their power, rights and freedom.  

As we merge into the second paragraph, he implies that Asian and African countries both faced a great deal of claiming independence within their country. He then clarifies that they did not claim independence by singing "We shall overcome".  This is a gospel song that was sang by native Black Americans during the protests, Most individuals saw it as a key anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. He again uses repetition, "independence", "colonialism" and "nationalism". He particularly use these words to reinforce the idea of nationalism and independence in America. This is because he points out the Asian countries did not gain independence through colonialism but through nationalism and he is trying to suggest the same method to gain power and independence, especially for black people in America. He then differentiates America to England and France, claiming that America has much more colonial power; here he uses logos in order to appeal to the audience with reason and furthermore allow them to perceive this information and make a change. He then uses personification where he exclaims that America is a  'hypocritical power'. Further he uses a rhetorical question, where he further defines that by being a second class citizen is the same as being called a slave in the 20th century. He reinforces the ideas that white Americans has on African-Americans. He further suggests that slaves can be seen as free however, African-Americans undermine the psychological power that a white American has in their community, that is why they are sometimes referred to as second class citizens. 

The final paragraph looks at the idea of change for black Americans. In this paragraph he consistently enforces the idea of "ballot or bullet". Ballot is the secret voting system, where this goes back to the year of 1964, as he points out; was the year of the great march to Washington, where black Americans rallied for their jobs and freedom. He suggests that 1964 would be the year of 'ballot and bullet'. He further characterizes black Americans as being blind for years because as he states, "they listened to the trickery, and the lies and the false promises of the white man now for too long." He further characterizes them as being 'fed up'. He uses harsh adjectives as follows, "disenchanted", "disillusioned" to signify how black Americans are now realizing the power they have and what their roles are in the pyramid of society; to be treated as equals. He then uses a metaphor whereby he states that the building up of the African – American community is explosive than all atomic bombs by the Russians. This emphasizes the great power that the African – American community has and they are willing to further build it for future generations. Malcolm X claims that racial keg powder is more dangerous than atomic keg powder because it doesn’t care who it knocks out of the way in order to succeed. Further throughout the paragraph he uses a more mockery tone where he emphasizes how the white Americans tricked black Americans to march down to Washington, because even though they do so, they will not be listened to in any way. At the end he uses a rhetorical question where he wants the audience to engage  into what he just said and also to keep in mind that the younger generation does not question and is not willing to hear anything about the competitor (white Americans). 

His speech is well structures which makes it easier on the eye for the audience. Malcolm X presents a different idea of the mindset of both black and white Americans and further emphasizes on how to improve equality and power between race.