Ethos, Logos, Pathos, And Malcolm X - 1901 Words

Declan Gunn Professor Cho Literature of the Americas October 13th, 2017 Ethos, Logos, Pathos, and Malcolm X Aristotle contends that persuasive speech is composed of three elements: ethos, logos, and pathos. In debate, we use these to construct our arguments. The first principle, ethos, can be expressed as a claim. The claim is the core of the argument; everything else goes to support it. I will commence this essay with the following claim: Malcolm X is not his own man. He is merely a mirror, an empty shell with a loud voice who echoes time and again the views of his mentors. This is why his beliefs change so often throughout his life: when his father, Shorty, and Elijah Muhammad respectively take him under their wings, they wipe the†¦show more content†¦When he tells his teacher he might want to be a lawyer, he is rebuked with racism: â€Å"‘A lawyer-- that’s no realistic goal for a n****r.’†(38) He sees then that his work to become the top student and class president has all been for naught. It doesn’t matter how hard he tries: â€Å"They didn’t give me credit for having the same sensitivity, intellect, and understanding that they would have been ready and willing to recognize in a white boy in my position.†(28) This realization breaks something in him: when he realizes that whites will never deign to accept him into their society, he loses trust in what his fat her stood for. â€Å"‘You’re acting so strange,’† his classmates and coworkers tell him.(37) Malcolm changes; he rejects all outer stimuli and retreats deeper into himself, hopeless without a paragon of success to emulate. â€Å"‘You don’t seem like yourself, Malcolm. What’s that matter?’†(37) In losing his role model, Malcolm has become a wanderer without a path to follow. Adrift within a sea of his own thoughts, Malcolm moves to Boston. Suddenly, his world is devoid of white schoolteachers or people of color who believe their inferiority. He is surrounded by the lights and sounds of the lindy-hopping world of black Americans, for once â€Å"proud of [their] very dark skin. This was unheard of among Negroes in those days.†(34) But still he is lost; without a mentor to mirror who can showShow MoreRelatedMalcolm X : The Rhetorical Analysis Of Malcom Xs Speech968 Words   |  4 PagesMarch 22, 1964, Malcolm X delivered his speech, â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet.† Malcolm X, a minister of the Nation of Islam, and a revolutionary advocate of nationalism in the black community, imparted this speech with the intent to reach the black population in a time of change. The adept use of ethos, pathos, and logos to build and maintain a compelling argument, brings about a call to action and firmly conveys his ideas within the black community. 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