Submitted by: Submitted by kyndking
Views: 194
Words: 1209
Pages: 5
Category: Literature
Date Submitted: 06/26/2013 02:23 PM
“The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing.” Most writers, want to prove something to their reader or intended audience; whether this through a novel where the point is not so clearly stated, or in a biography where someone’s life proves the lesson, all have one thing in common, rhetoric. As stated earlier in the definition of rhetoric, it is an art not a device. Rhetoric is utilized in many different ways such billboards, logos, and promotions and even the way people relate to one another through conversation and communication. Although Malcolm X was from a different decade and his target audience is no longer alive, his writing still rings true in today’s culture. His main focus was persuading his audience, as most writers do, of something that he feels deeply about. In order to persuade African Americans that education is something you make on your own he has to use different tactics. These are his rhetorical choices and although there are many different avenues there are three important devices used persuade his audience. Malcolm X uses three simple devices, references to personal experiences, descriptive writing, and repetition to help persuade African Americans that education is what the individual puts into it.
Malcolm X uses a personal experience of his own in prison providing the reader with a way to relate to him. Appealing to African Americans, X often refers back to when he was unable to read or write well. He never uses his illiteracy as a crutch but instead describes how inadequate he felt to the men he admires, Bimbi and Elijah Muhammad. X writes,“ I had commanded attention when I said something. But now, trying to write simple English. I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional. How would I sound writing slang, the way I would something such as, “Look, daddy let me pull your coat about a cat, Elijah Muhammad” (Malcolm X 227). X never presented himself as some great writer and activist but instead referred back to his...