ipl-logo

What Is The Relevance Of Malcolm X Persuasive Speech

510 Words3 Pages

Alyssa Draves
Mrs.Dockter
American Literature
17 Janurary 2023
Malcolm X persuasive speech
Malcolm X was a very influential civil rights leader. Malcolm grew up in foster care from ages 11-18 after his father was murdered by a possible white supremacist, and his mother was committed to an institution after having a serious mental breakdown (“The Ballot or the Bullet”). I found this relevant because Malcolm didn´t have an easy life even as a child. At the age of 20, Malcolm was incarcerated for burglary and would spend the next six and ½ years in a state prison.When he was incarcerated he had an ¨Awakening¨ and worked to improve his reading and writing skills (“The Ballot or the Bullet”). I found this relevant because it shows that people can …show more content…

One reason his speech really stood out is because of his use of alliteration, he used statements that he knew would strike the hearts of others. “Today it's time to stop singing and start swinging” (Malcolm X). This quote shows the occurrence of the same letter at the beginning of words in close proximity to each other. Another persuasive technique he used was repetition, which appealed to one's sense of logic to get his points across. “Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude it changes your behavior pattern. And then you go on into some action.”(Malcolm X). This shows Malcolm repeating words or phrases to get his point across. The final reason his speech was so influential was because of his tone, he had just the right amount of seriousness with a little mix of sarcasm. “You wouldn't be in this country if some enemy had not kidnapped you and brought you here. On the other hand, some of you think you came here on the Mayflower.”(Malcolm X). This shows his angry yet sarcastic tone. With the help of these persuasive techniques, his speech was incredibly

Open Document