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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ballot Or The Bullet

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Patrick Henry and Malcolm Little (more commonly known as Malcolm X) were powerful spokesmen of their times. Years after Henry persuaded the United States president in time of the American Revolution to fight for the rights of Americans in his “Give me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, Little encouraged the black community of his time to stand for their own deprived civil rights as a race in his own speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” While these two men stood at the head of separate movements in different points of history, both believed in a similar goal to be accomplished through the same means: to win their battle for the rights of Americans and African Americans through fighting hard, not necessarily through violence, but through whatever …show more content…

Henry and Little used a variety of rhetorical devices to convey an urgent tone in their speeches to the president and the black community for immediate action against the British ministry and the white men who stood in the way of their rights. Henry and Little built foundations upon their tone of urgency to fight in their speeches to the president and black community through rich vocabulary. Thier diction added an element of excitement and emphasis to the need for action. “Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty” (Henry 2) is one example in which Henry uses the words “arduous struggle” to depict the great challenge that is being placed in front of the president and Americans. An “arduous struggle” would be defined in simpler terms to be a difficult challenge; therefore, Henry described the problem of the controlling British ministry to be just that, creating a tone that this problem is complicated and therefore …show more content…

The order of words in Henry’s sentences through anastrophe and the repetition of Little’s words through anadiplosis are key elements that built the urgent tone of their speeches. “I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array-” (Henry 4) is one example of Henry using anastrophe to keep a tone of prestige and sophistication that makes the president see the high value in Henry’s message to fight. When words are put out of their causal order and into one of a high level, the tone is built up to be serious and in no way undeserving of attention; therefore, Henry’s word were viewed as credible by the president and the option of fighting is seen in a positive, and favorable tone. “So we’re trapped, trapped, double trapped, triple trapped. Any way we go we find that we’re trapped” (Little 5) is another example in which Little uses anadiplosis to emphasize the meaning of the word “trapped.” The repetition of this word makes the black community think about its value as it is repeated over and over again and they realize, they truly are “trapped” in a world that is depriving them of their rights. Little therefore develops the urgent tone of his speech through this device as the black community sees they are being shut out by the white man without their rights, and action needs to be taken for

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