...Focusing closely on doing simple tasks can really help us think more clearly and inspire us. Malcolm X is a figure who illustrates this idea. He was able to learn how to read because he focused on improving his vocabulary by copying words from the dictionary. He spent countless hours rewriting the words on his tablet, learning about history and improving his handwriting. In the end, he could actually read and understand books. This inspired him to fight for African-Americans rights and recognition of African-American culture. Malcolm X’s experience shows that focusing closely on tasks can get us to think more clearly and give us inspiration. I feel that the author’s point about doing things mindfully and feeling inspired afterwards is true. When I write essays for my writing class, I noticed that I need to sit quietly in the school library to get started on my essay. I noticed that this quiet space allows me to focus closely on brainstorming a lot of ideas for my essay. Later when I write my essay, I am also able to focus closely on each of my sentences, which lets me see if my essay is flowing well and catch any writing mistakes. Sometimes, I reread my essay and I add...
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...The death of Malcolm’s father left his mother hysterical. Malcolm says ‘she was still hysterical at the funeral’. His mother never truly adjusted, how could she? Her husband killed by the KKK. Leaving her with eight mouths to feed. Without any money from the insurance company their family fell into destitution. Malcolm’s mother tried very hard to be able to manage on her own as she hated receiving help from charities and welfare officers. She went from job to job working tirelessly to help feed the family. Unfortunately, racial discrimination would once again ruin X’s family. White families who had hired Malcolm’s mother would immediately fire her once they found she was a ‘negro’ (His mother looked white). By the age of 7 racism had taken...
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...In this extract, the speaker Malcolm X uses a few elements of Language and style to get his point across to his audience. He begins the speech and almost immediately we see his use of repetition and parallelism when he says " I'm not a..."(lines 1-2). This use of repetition is to emphasize to his audience that he doesn't consider himself as a lot of things that would make him an American and he doesn't even consider himself an American at all. He also uses diction in this paragraph, referring to the white people from other nations as Honkies rather than just referring to them as Whites. He then continues his repetition from lines 3-6 saying " the ____ are already Americans". This places emphasis on the fact that the other cultures...
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...thousands, he earned the Nobel Peace Prize. To millions, he led the movement that should have never needed to exist. Martin Luther King Jr. had more than a leader title for a non-discriminatory south; he was a resistor and an intelligent, whose peaceful arguments have lasted until the present. And despite that, his peaceful remarks and movements have been looked down upon by Malcolm X’s argument that bloodshed is necessary for a true revolution. Martin Luther King Jr’s argument is more effective than Malcolm X’s because of his use of pathos, logos, and speech organization, making it stronger and more persuasive among other argumentative speeches. MLKJ uses pathos to build an emotional trust and relation to his audience....
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...encourage reading. Malcolm X was a major advocate for the power of literature, as well as the knowledge that emerges from a well read individual's mind. In a personal essay from his biography, the civil rights leader discusses the pleasure that reading can provide as well as the craving for knowledge it invokes, however, in today’s world of endless distractions it’s extremely likely he would have faced many...
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...This excerpt from Malcolm X’s autobiography narrates a story from his youth; that changes him forever. Malcolm is moving on into high school and his prior English teacher asks him what he was thinking about for a career. Mr. Ostrowski criticizes Malcolm for thinking of becoming a lawyer and tells him to be more realistic for a black person. Later on, Malcolm finds out he is encouraging the white children in his class to pursue their dream profession and to not be realistic. Malcolm says “It was then that I began to change- inside”. Malcolm X, the author of this excerpt, included this anecdote from his childhood to illuminate the different attitudes Mr. Ostrowski had toward Malcolm vs the white children in his class. The author emphasizes that...
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...Defense Tactics Malcolm X was not viewed as a peacemaker. In his Liberation by Any Means Necessary speech, he states that “1964 will be America’s hottest year; a year of much racial violence and much racial bloodshed. But it won’t be blood that’s going to flow from only one side. The new generation of black people that have grown up in this country ...are already forming an opinion, that if there is to be bleeding, it should be reciprocal” There Malcolm is saying that he predicts that there will be violence between the races, and that black people will fight back. In another speech, Malcolm says: “The black people in this country have been the victims of violence at the hands of the white man for 400 years and following the ignorant negro preachers we had thought it that it was god like to turn the other cheek to the brute that was brutalizing us...just as the white man and any other person on this earth has god given rights, natural rights,...
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...Reading the Nonviolent excerpts, the two chosen to write about are Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. It seems that the two men only agreed upon one idea, which is, bettering the life for African Americans in America, alternatively, having two different views on how to achieve this goal. Malcolm X was not a radical. However, he voiced different views during the Civil Rights Movements. It is believed by a majority of educated African Americans that if Malcolm was a radical so was every white American that murdered African Americans before as well as through the duration of the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, Malcolm X was not violent. He believed in self-defense. Self-defense only when an act of crime was being done against an individual,...
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...example of effective rhetoric in action is found in The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X. The book traces the story of Malcolm X’s upbringing and displays how he rose to become the person that he is known for to this present day. Throughout his...
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...The narrative by Malcolm X has a powerful message and is significant for today’s society. The ability to read and write is the first step towards decent education, motivation and success in life. From the story of Malcolm X we see, that it is no easy task and one must be persistent if they are willing to learn. The author does not specify the niche he is writing to, as the message he is trying to communicate can be significant for anyone. However, from how the article is written it is clear that author writes to people like himself, to people who did not have a very successful life and maybe are imprison too or have other unsatisfactory circumstances. Talking about the prison, he says “As you can imagine”, meaning that his audience is probably...
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...Black and White “Learning to Read” is an excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley. In his quest to express his feelings towards “the white-man” in not such an envious way, Malcolm X also tells his life story of the long frustrating process it took to teach himself how to read and write in prison. Malcolm X not only uses the time period of the civil rights movement but also an emotional appeal to get the audiences attention. He wants the audience to know how he feels and wants them to feel the same. In the first attempts to teach himself how to read and write Malcolm X would become very frustrated with himself. Having to teach himself the basic abilities people learn in elementary school was not an easy task for...
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...In the excerpt “Learning to Read,” Malcolm X shows the concept of self-teaching to become a literate person. As a Malcolm X was learning new vocabularies and reading books in prison, his view of the world and he himself have changed. Malcolm X is able to express in writing words about how he feels at the moment and realizes the idea of American master narrative in history books. Throughout history texts, almost all historical events are written by white man's perspective and or by dominant views of how history had happened. Malcolm X’s argument regarding the importance of reading from self-education will bring benefits to one’s future is largely effective. Though this excerpt is an anecdote from Malcolm X’s prison experience, there are underlying...
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...Minister and Civil Rights activist, Malcolm X delivered “On Afro-American History” speech, in Harlem, one month before his death. Malcolm targets an audience of any black person. HIs goal is to educate them on their history and to persuade them to understand his belief. Broadly, the claim of the speech is that knowledge of history is power. Malcolm supports this claim with four main ideas he addresses. One, Black people cannot understand their current situation and correct the future without knowledge of the past. African Americans lack knowledge of the past which cripples their ability to change the future. Black people most learn where they come from to gain confidence in themselves. Two, that black people need to broaden their scope and...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of the “Ballot or the Bullet” and “Somebody Blew Up America” The purpose of this essay to compare and contrast the rhetoric in Amira Baraka’s “Somebody Blew up America” and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet in regards to ethos, pathos, and logos. Amiri Baraka, born Everett LeRoi Jones, was an African-American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. Baraka read his poem “Somebody Blew up America?” on the September 11th attacks and was heavily criticized for anti-Semitism and attacks on public figures. His poem is free verse and has no set structure but maintains its rhythmic elements for oral sharing. The poem was meant to be shared orally so that Baraka would be able to emphasize and share lines specifically for an audience. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was an African-American Muslim minister...
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...coauthored The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and also performed the basic functions of a ghostwriter and biographical amanuensis,[11] writing, compiling, and editing[12] the Autobiography based on more than 50 in-depth interviews he conducted with Malcolm X between 1963 and his subject's 1965 assassination.[13] The two first met in 1959, when Haley wrote an article about the Nation of Islam for Reader's Digest, and again when Haley interviewed Malcolm X for Playboy in 1962.[14] In 1963 the Doubleday publishing company asked Haley to write a book about the life of Malcolm X. American writer and literary critic Harold Bloom writes, "When Haley approached Malcolm with the idea, Malcolm gave him a startled look ..."[15] Haley recalls, "It was one of the few times I have ever seen him uncertain."[15] After Malcolm X was granted permission from Elijah Muhammad, he and Haley commenced work on the Autobiography, a process which began as two-and three-hour interview sessions at Haley's studio in Greenwich Village.[15] Bloom writes, "Malcolm was critical of Haley's middle-class status, as well as his Christian beliefs and twenty years of service in the U.S. Military."[15] When work on the Autobiography began in early 1963, Haley grew frustrated with Malcolm X's tendency to speak only about Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. Haley reminded him that the book was supposed to be about Malcolm X, not Muhammad or the Nation of Islam, a comment which angered Malcolm X. Haley eventually shifted...
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