Essay on Mlk Malcom X Compare/Contrast - 1044 Words

M.L.K and Malcolm X The two most influential civil rights activists in American history were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They supported equal rights for every race, but when comparing MLK’s â€Å"I Have a Dream’ and Malcolm X’s â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet,† one sees the similarities in their rhetorical styles and differences in their tone and message. As seen in â€Å"I Have a Dream,† MLK has a more civilized and peaceful solution to the nation’s problems; whereas in X’s he has a will to do whatever it may take to solve the problems. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X use the same rhetorical strategies to enhance their message in their speeches. One device or strategy is repetition. In King’s speech he repeated the phrase â€Å"I have a†¦show more content†¦Both King and X used the same methods to captivate their audiences towards their view, though communicated different messages. King and X employed figurative language in their methods of persuading their audience. In King’s â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech he conveys the use of similes in the phrase, â€Å"We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,† in order to illustrate the need for justice until all are equal. He stresses the need of discrimination to end and for justice to let all nondiscriminatory in society. He used the negativity of injustice and turned it into a positive of justice being endless water that roars through a mighty stream that will forever be flowing. X also used similes to describe that all â€Å"negroes† are in the same boat and all will get the same treatment from the white man in the phrase, â€Å"†¦you’re going to catch hell just like I am.† He emphasizes that all â€Å"negroes† whether educated or illiterate or wealthy or poor will gain the same result of the hell that is b eing brought upon the by the same man who happens to be white. Both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X felt the lack of acceptance and the treachery being brought upon them by the white man in their use of similes. Although Martin Luther King and Malcolm X may have used the same rhetorical devices to persuade the same general audience, both broadcasted entirely different messages, with entirely