Rhetorical Analysis Of Ain T I A Woman

According to Victorian standards, women are expected to be domestic, submissive, pious, and pure. Men believed that women were too delicate and frail to handle the responsibilities of making decisions. Furthermore, due to the events of slavery, African American women not only had to challenge patriarchy but also demonstrate their equality with white women during the 1860s. Sojourner Truth, a women’s rights activist and abolitionist who escaped from slavery, delivered a speech at the Women’s Convention titled "Ain't I a Woman?" to draw attention to the injustices that women, specifically African Americans, faced in the country's white, male-dominated culture. The speech underscores the importance of the intersectionality of gender and race.

She declares in a confident manner, "I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman?" (Truth). Earlier, Truth played on emotions to appeal to the female audience. She focuses more on logic and reason to disprove the idea that women are objectively weaker than men in order to convince the male audience. African American women not only perform duties traditionally performed by men, such as cleaning homes and working in fields, but they also fulfill the role of women by having children. Therefore, do they not deserve the same rights as men? If men can do this, and so can women, are they not equal? The appeal to logic that Truth applies is difficult to argue against, thus using it is extremely effective. She is proving that black women can complete tasks that are identified as "manly," emphasizing the strength and skill of black women that are not acknowledged enough. Women do not have to need the aid of a male figure or just sit at home to be considered women. Truth is suggesting that all women should be equal to men, and her insistence on creating equality for women, despite race, is a precursor to the feminist era that unites women

The line becomes the most enduring part of the speech and helps the audience remember Truth's objective. The contraction "ain’t" is such an informal and common word to say in a conversation that it makes the audience feel as if she were speaking to them one on one instead of one to a thousand. Truth challenges the audience to look at her as a woman, to look at what she is both capable of and has gone through, and then tell her that she does not deserve any rights. Not only does it convince them to believe in her claim that women and African Americans deserve equal rights as white males, but it also excites the audience by grabbing their attention to the rhetorical question and agreeing with