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Comparing Common Sense And Black Elk's Ain T I A Woman

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There are always people better than you and those less fortunate, those with paralleling views and those grasping their contradicting opinions towards your own. If one wishes to move mountains, a pebble must be moved first. In works like Thomas Paine’s, “Common Sense” from 1776, Sojourner Truth’s, “Ain’t I a Woman?” from 1851 and Black Elk’s, “The End of the Dream,” 1932, pebbles were tossed and boulders quaked with the actions and words, used and initiated, by Paine towards the separation of Great Britain and America, the words Truth used to shine a light on the inequality of the sex and race, and the actions taken by Elk to protect “the sacred tree” and his culture. “We may as well assert that because a child thrives on milk, that it is …show more content…

Born into slavery, Truth never became literate, but literacy does not determine intellect. Trust is appealing to the belongingness needs of her listeners by questioning the societal barriers used to deem whom is more important than someone else. She is as strong as any man, and says indirectly that she is as much a man as…a man. “I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well!” (Truth 128). By adding her ability ‘bear the lash,’ she is referring to the abuse she has received in her life of slavery. She has seen all of her children sold to slavery, but yet stays strong. She indirectly is referring herself and identifying herself as a “man.” “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman!” (Truth 128). Women are the mothers to the male society. This idea run similar to Paine’s views about Great Briton being a monster rather than a mother and instead of belittling America, the colonies only seek independence and become Great Britain’s equal. Truth continues to diminish and question the false view that women are lesser than men. Truth is displaying that women are as involved in their Christ as much as men are and this idea of women being lesser to men is not justified in their (those who see women as lesser)

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“I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon” (Truth). Right off the bat she introduces her intention of finding harmony among everyone men, women, blacks, whites. Finally she ends the speech with a powerful tool for inspiring her audience to act on this topic of inequality, saying “ if the first women God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” (Truth). Saying that if these women stand together for what they believe, for what they feel is right they cannot fail.

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Also in the speech she says “ I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the whip as well! And ain't I a woman? I have had thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?”

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When asked to fall into another’s arms as a sign of trust, they cannot perform the task. Frederick Douglass and Booker Taliaferro Washington were no strangers to trust. They had the choice to trust their mothers. They had the choice to trust their masters. And they had the choice to trust their brethren, who shared the same yoke of slavery and discrimination as they did.

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“To render [make] mankind more virtuous, and happier of course, both sexes must act from the same principle,... For they are now made so inferior by ignorance and low desires, as not to deserve to be ranked with them…” Mary believed that if men and women were given the same education as men and also treated the same, women would be just as superior as men. Although, she did think this was a very difficult argument because women are ranked so

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Always being told the men in the bibles and the biblical stories were the heroes or the good people, while she was also always told that the more inferior and weaker ones were the women such as Eve, who bit into the apple, who was the “first sinner”. In Society around that time and even many years ago, It was extremely common practice in the church and society that the belief was that men were on the top, the strongest, wisest and smartest. And that women were in second place, inferiors, weaker and submissive to all. Almost all feminine figures in the church were seen as inferior to the men, seen as whores, seen as only mothers and wives. So to only see and hear these kinds of things keeps you in this place where all you believe is that you as a woman are inferior to men and others, that you have no place besides being a wife and mother.

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665 Words | 3 Pages

Sojourner Truth, a runaway slave, became an influential figure in both women’s societies and the abolitionist movement. In her famous speech, “Ain’t I a women?”, Truth argues that she is more oppressed as a woman than as a slave (Doc 7). While she campaigned publicly for women’s civil rights, others attempted to reform society from within their religious

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This rhetorical question has brought out the contradiction of societal attitudes towards black women based on race and gender, and how unfounded that is with every use of the question. It works as a perfect strategy to lay bare the perceived logic that underlines inequality, and makes it seem ridiculous compared to existing norms. In her speech, Truth also uses repetition to great effect, giving the full weight of both pathos and rhetorical devices to her demand for equal treatment and to be considered equal. She shows her strong physical and emotional character time and again, most powerfully through lines like, “I have ploughed and planted, and no man could head me!” , strongly disproving the stereotype of woman weakness.

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As she continues to explore the concepts of a woman being obedient to her husband, she again reinterprets scripture to prove that this oppression was not the intent of the tradition that many cited to justify it (Stanton, 4). Throughout many of her arguments, she redirects the minds of her audiences and exposes new points, all while pointing out the injustice that former viewpoints caused for women. She finally calls women to action, inviting them to join her in the fight for their very own rights. She cites the fight for the rights of colored people and reminds her

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Discrimination has been something the world has struggled with ever since the creation of social classes. The speech, “Ain’t I a Woman” uses urgent and emotional tactics to spread awareness of the difficulties women face daily. In the Woman’s Rights Convention of 1851, Sojourners Truth, an abolitionist, and an activist for civil and women’s rights, effectively argues in favor of women’s rights using counterargument and repetition. For instance, Sojourners Truth uses repetition to persuade her audience to support women’s rights. Using repetition helps the audience understand the importance of her message, the importance of the challenges she’s faced.

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Extra Credit Presentation: Rhetoric of Subordination Professor Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza’s presentation on the Rhetoric of Subordination gave an in-depth perspective on how religious scriptures have had an influence on society’s views on family structures. Throughout her presentation she also brings to light how Christian scripture helped to establish the foundation for how men are perceived as superior by society compared to women. Professor Fiorenza’s findings are focused on a theory that society is “double blind” when it comes to a woman’s role in various communities, and made an interesting point on how the word ‘women’ and ‘she’ includes the words ‘men’ and ‘he’. Listening to her presentation reminded me of some similarities in Lynn

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Feminist interpretations of the Bible are very scarce, but Susan Foh and Phyllis Trible grapple with the role of women in Genesis 1-3. Susan Foh, a Christian scholar, wrote on Genesis 1-3 with the fundamental thesis that men and women are equally blessed in the image of God, or ontologically equal, but the creation stories designate a functional difference where man is the head and woman is subordinate. In Genesis 2, the man was created before the woman, and Foh uses the order of creation as evidence that women are subordinate. In contrast, Phyllis Trible’s fundamental theses in her essays aim to depatriarchalize interpretations of the Bible and argue that men and women are equal. Trible highlights that the temporality of creation in the second

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450 Words | 2 Pages

I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?" (Sojourner Truth, 1851). In this quote her, it is evident that the troubles that Sojourner Truth dealt with were issues she faced on her own, without anyone else's help, and she survived to tell the story of her hardships. Women weren't seen as powerful or as strong as men, and this speech alone provides enough evidence that 1 woman can be as strong as many men.

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166 Words | 1 Pages

In the Feminist Scholarship on Women in the Bible, Sheila Klopfer talks about how the Bible suppresses women by not letting women have any authority over their male counterparts. She states many good verse proving how the Bible says, women cannot, and should not even teach men. She goes on to say a good point, which I can reminds me of The Coleman Report about Equality of Educational Opportunity, Women feel inferior, because of all the male dominance in the Bible, and Bible teaching. Going far as stating, “It seemed clear that the Christian God was a male God who sent a male Son leaving little room for women in this salvation history except as the handmaiden of men”. Also, she talks about when a woman does have a place in the Bible’s stories,

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1099 Words | 5 Pages

She isn’t afraid to be emotional about her experiences, and her vulnerability only makes her more sympathetic. She describes the “the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation” as a reminder of America’s painful past, before describing “And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” as the promise of the future, one of hope and equality that Hillary Clinton has committed herself to as well. She strengthens her speech even further by never mentioning Clinton’s opponent name, instead using the rhetorical technique of allusion. Clinton’s opponent is someone who does not understand “that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.” ; moreover, he is someone with “a thin skin or a tendency to lash out.”

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635 Words | 3 Pages

This indicates that women cannot be independent of men since they need men to reproduce. The men come from God, whereas, women come from

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