Paper 1

The extract from The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X is a political speech about Black Nationalism. Malcolm argues that it is time to stand up to the “white man”, using persuasive language techniques.  Ultimately, he discusses how the colonization of America tricked Africans in to becoming slaves. Through using examples, and persuasive language to express that Black Nationalism should fight back – whether it be calmly or violently, with the ballot or with the bullet.

The extract is set up with a clear audience and purpose. Malcolm frequently refers to black people and their history throughout the text. He also uses the word “you” a lot in his sentences. This directly implies that he is delivering his speech to a crowd of African Americans, therefore making this community the intended audience. The purpose of the text is not to persuade either a ballot or a bullet, but to persuade the audience that one of the two should occur in order to achieve equal rights. With examples to prove his words, Malcolm use of language draws to the conclusion that the purpose of the extract is to persuade the intended audience that they need to take action for equal rights. This is seen in the first paragraph of the extract where Malcolm says, “Anything can sit. Well you and I been sitting long enough, and it’s time today for us to start doing some standing, and some fighting to back that up” (line 16). This means to say that African Americans have dealt with their history of slavery, and unequal rights. Malcolm is expressing that it is time to take their political stance and fight for what they are owed.

The content and theme are also expressed clearly in this extract. Considering the intended audience, Malcolm uses examples of events that impacted the black community. This includes, “And it will take black nationalism - that to bring about the freedom of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country where we have suffered colonialism for the past 400 years” (line 26) and, “They try and make you think they set you free by calling you a second-class citizen. No, you’re nothing but a 20th century slave” (line 35) as well as “He made a chump out of you. He made a fool out of you. He made you think you were going somewhere and you end up going nowhere but between Lincoln and Washington” (line 54). Malcolm uses pathos in these instances, to use the emotions of African Americans in order to persuade them of his purpose. This is accomplished by using words such as “freedom”, ”suffering”, “slave”, and “fool”. Therefore linking the content with the audience and purpose of the extract.  Along with these aspects, Malcolm is conveying the message that African American’s can have equality if they fight for it, which directly links with the main purpose of the speech.

A tone, and a mood, can be identified within this speech in order to satisfy and persuade the intended audience in consideration to the theme. Considering that Malcolm is giving a political speech consisting of examples and facts, he must be confident in his words. He is speaking to the intended audience about their own community, and therefore must be serious in his tone, as the purpose of the speech is not a laughing matter. This ultimately implies a confident and serious tone. From this speech, the audience receives a mood of sadness, as well as an empowering mood. The sadness comes from lines such as, “you’re nothing but a 20th century slave” (line 36).  These words could cause the audience to come to a disheartening realization, due to the fact that they were made to think they were second-class citizens, which simply sounds nicer. Then, to hear that they are nothing to America except slaves, creates the sad mood. However, there is also an empowering mood when Malcolm says, “Just as it took nationalism to remove colonialism from Asia and Africa, it’ll take black nationalism today to re- move colonialism from the backs and the minds of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country” (line 36). The empowering mood comes from the fact that Asia and Africa removed Colonialism through nationalism, meaning African Americans can ultimately do the same thing. This is proof that the purpose of the speech can be achieved to further persuade the audience. This also follows through with style and structure.

The style and structure of this speech relates directly with previously analysed aspects. The structure stays the same throughout the extract. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, and discusses a particular topic. This allows for different information to build up in order to support the purpose. Malcolm uses a formal style, to compliment the serious and confident tone, due to the purpose of the text as previously stated. He commonly uses negative language in order to make is points of persuasion stronger. For example Malcolm says, “No, you’re nothing but a 20th century slave. Just as it took nationalism to remove colonialism from Asia and Africa, it’ll take black nationalism today to re- move colonialism from the backs and the minds of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country” (line 36).  He began the quote with a negative use of words, including “slave”. Then, he counters that claim with a fact. This is use of pathos, where he hits the audience with a sad, emotional statement, and then suggests a way to fix it, which has worked before. Overall, it is seen that the style and structure link with purpose, audience, mood, and content.

In conclusion, Malcolm X is effective in his choice of words and phrases, which ultimately are used to persuade the intended audience of the given purpose. He based his speech around the audience and purpose. He knew that his intended audience would be African Americans, as his purpose was to persuade them to fight for their equal rights. This then moves into content and theme, which is based around the main focus of the speech, which is to persuade the African Americans. Therefore, the speech contains words and phrases based on this topic. The tone and mood come from the serious topic of fighting for equal rights, due to the seriousness of the historical content. Finally the style and structure are used to piece the other aspects together. Throughout the speech, Malcolm’s aim was to persuade the black nationalists to stand up for themselves. This results in consistent use of persuasive language, facts, examples, and pathos. Therefore creating his persuasive political speech.