Rhetorical Analysis – Malcolm X “The Ballot or the Bullet”.
1. Identify two rhetorical devices to discuss from the speech you read/analyzed. 2. Develop a two-paragraph analysis about these points. Create one substantive paragraphs (7-12 sentences per paragraph) for each device. 3. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that identifies the rhetorical device it will discuss. 4. Include specific evidence from the speech (see examples from Rhetorical Devices Chart) Can only use this SOURCE: americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeeches/mx.html TWO DEVICES: Purpose and ETHOS Purpose Quotes: The purpose of the speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” presented by Malcolm X, is to… 1: “The economic philosophy of black nationalism only means that we should own and operate and control the economy of our community.” 2: “You’re in a position to determine who’ll go to the White House and who’ll stay in the doghouse.” 3: “When you see this, you can see that the Negro vote is the key factor.” ETHOS Quotes: Malcolm establishes his credibility at the beginning of his speech… 1: “All of these are Christian ministers, they come to us as fighters in some other category.” 2: “I am a Muslim minister. The same as they are Christian ministers.” 3: “But if we keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God, but when we come out here we have a fight that’s common to all of us against a enemy who is common to all of us.”