Rhetorical Analysis Of Harlem Speech

Malcolm X- Harlem Speech

Malcolm X uses several persuasive techniques to make the speech appealing to the audience, and to get them to respond in a certain way. His aim is to make them understand that they are not being treated equally in relation to white people even though its the only way that they know. Some of the techniques used are repetition, specific tone, inclusive language and shows some signs of constructing a persona.

He uses repetition of words and ideas in his speech. Repetition is used to make the main ideas solidify in the audiences mind and in doing so make them also feel the same way. For example in one section he repeats we were black 5 times in a very strong and proud voice. In the context of the sentence, he is saying that he has always been proud to be black and he always will be. This appeals to the black audience because being told that they are proud and strong makes them feel better
about themselves. This then results in shouts and cheers of approval towards the speaker. X. also repeats ideas over and over during his speech. For example he repeatedly mentions the point about white men having control over black men when he says "You cannot get gambling down here without the white mans permission" and "Every time you break the seal on that liquor bottle, that's a government seal your breaking".
The overall tone of the speech is determined and confident however anger can also be derived. The speech was set in a time when blacks were treated unfairly and they didn't have the same privileges as whites. The main point of the speech is that the treatment is unfair and that there is nothing wrong with being black, The point begins to come through when he says "You cannot get drugs in Harlem without the white mans permission" his voice begins to sounds agitated and angry. This anger is even more evident at the end of his speech when he says "Ya been had, ya been took, led astray run amok" Your can hear the growling sound in his voice which comes from the very pit of his stomach. You can also feel his the anger coming through from a deeper level, and that is from his background; getting separated from his mother and getting abused constantly by the Klu Kulx Klan and other white
activists.

The speech itself has a climaxing structure. It starts off slowly and calmly, then as the speech progresses, it gets louder and the pace increases. The speech was purposely designed this way to keep the audiences listening intently, to keep them interested and it also encourages them to respond positively and the summit of the climax. This is at the end of the speech when he shouts "ya been had, ya been took, led astray run amok"

In his speech, he constructs himself as a persona that appeals to the audience, weather it is really his personality or not. In his opening, he makes it very clear that he is angry at his country when he states that he is not an American, even though its obvious that's where he comes from. He then tells us that he us a proud strong black man when he says " I stand here today as what I was when I was born, a black man" and also by repeating "we were black". Then finally he constructs himself as a trustworthy person subtly by using American slang. He says "im gonna tell you like it really is."

Malcolm X used hand gestures in his speech to emphasise certain points. However they were not used very often so when they were, they had a greater significance. He pointed his hand in the air a few times and he pointed his finger at the audience when he says every time you break the seal on that liquor bottle that's a government seal your breaking. His body language is very open and confident and when he really gets into it he leans forward as though to make himself sound louder by being closer to the microphones.
Through his use of repetition, hand gestures, tone and construction of a persona Malcolm produced a successful and very popular persuasive speech, and was able to convince the audience that they were being treated unfairly and that they all deserve equality in America.