Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter Of An American Farmer

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Written in 1782 by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, this passage from Letter of an American Farmer was written for the purpose of showing poor, helpless Europeans how much better their life could be in America. America was a place where anyone could come and be accepted as an American despite their cultural, social, or personal background. There weren’t constant fights for superiority or wars over foolish things in America like there was in Europe. America was a giant melting pot of people all coming together to form one great and powerful nation. Crèvecoeur’s usage of powerful metaphors, description, and references make this a powerful essay to persuade poor Europeans that America is the place they should be calling their homeland. Crèvecoeur begins by asking the question, “Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury, can that man call England or any other kingdom his country?” This question is definitely rhetorical in the sense that he’s making it seem like a no-brainer that a person cannot call a country their own when all they do is work, starve, and receive “frowns …show more content…

This implies that America is the place that these “plants” need to grow and prosper as united people. Crèvecoeur talks about how they weren’t even counted on civil lists in their old country, but here all people are citizens who just need a little help from the thriving country for them to flourish. Crèvecoeur then poses rhetorical question asking, “what attachment can a poor European emigrant have for a country where he had nothing?” All of these people had were language and family keeping them “tied” to the country from which they came. These are just examples of reasons these people shouldn’t be holding onto another country where they have no “real