Stewart began with a casual use of irony in the form of sarcasm to mock the perspective of white slave owners who relegate work to their black slaves who “were lazy and idle” even though the lifestyle which their black slaves sustain allows the laziness and idleness of the slave owners themselves. Her use of figurative language, which appealed to pathos, emphasized the long toil for freedom which likens the slaves’ tired spirit to their tired bodies which the white abolitionists have never experienced: “I reply to it, the whites have so long and proudly proclaimed the theme of equal rights and privileges, that our souls have caught the flame also, ragged as we are.” Although the white abolitionists preach equality and privilege for all, the
How was it like to be an African American writer in the 1800s? Mary Ann Shadd Cary reveals just how hard it was to get her words out. On March 25, 1854, an editorial of hers appeared on the “Provincial Freeman” called “Why Establish This Paper?”. Mary Ann discusses the necessity of her newspaper by using rhetorical strategies such as personification, alliteration, and appealing to the readers pathos to establish her claim of freedom of speech Mary Ann uses personification and establishes her ethos to support her claim of freedom of speech. Within the first paragraph, she states, " As the great country grows we grow with it ; as it improves and progresses, we are carried forward on the bosom of its onward tide.
In 1832, a young African American woman, Maria W. Stewart, rose to address a Boston audience. In her lecture, Stewart uses her intellect and passion to call for equal rights for African American citizens. Her lecture employs brilliant rhetorical strategies to support her position. Stewart is successful in her passionately expressive calling for an end to African American discrimination through her use of diction and figurative language.
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an African American writer, newspaper publisher, educator, lawyer, and abolitionist. In 1851 she traveled from the United States to Canada to work with the fugitive community. She uses strong rhetorical strategies in her editorial that she published in the newspaper Provincial Freeman to link the fugitives and to promote antislavery. Cary begins her editorial by stating “we need an organ, too, for making our voice heard at home.” She uses an analogy, referring to the fugitives who need a functioning body like a newspaper to make their voice heard.
The Company (Not Family) Man Ellen Goodman uses her great skills in rhetorical strategies to demonstrate her negative feelings towards the main character; Phil. Phil seems almost like a robot, mechanically able to march through life; living his life as rigidly and indifferent as possible. Goodman uses diction and her style of writing to bring the life the underlying stigmas surrounding corporate America. Subsequently, with her choice of diction, her opinion is heard loud and clear.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s primary purpose in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is to justify his presence and involvement in the peaceful protests taking place in Birmingham as well as to condemn the world of unjust segregation and racism. By employing logos continuously in his writing, King develops and contributes to his position in support of peaceful protests and direct action programs that are meant to bring to African Americans the “unalienable rights” that they are being denied. He writes the letter in 1936 from his prison cell in Birmingham jail, replying to a public letter written by several clergymen. His well-thought written logic appeals to the intended audience but also indirectly addresses the divided nation.
Judy starts her essay off by showing that she is credibly to the reader or uses ethos. In the first paragraph she states, “I am a Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother”(229). In say she is a mother and a wife, she shows her readers that she know what they are going through and that she has experienced some of the discrimination they have. Also being a wife, allows for readers to put themselves in her shoes and understand what she is saying is true.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in 1954. He had a great impact on race relations in the U.S. and he made a great impact on many lives. He died in 1968. Dr. King wrote 2 famous works, “Dream” and “Birmingham” and each had a different audience and purpose. Both works utilizes the persuasive techniques of pathos in “Dream” and logos in “Birmingham.”
In 1847 Eliza Stacey, a frontier farmer’s wife, writes a letter to her father-in-law Edward Stacey for financial aid after her husband George had been arrested and taken to jail. Her family was deep into debt and needed help. As she was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she was swamped with stress and work. This letter attempts to persuade her father-in-law to help her family once more by stressing the time and urgency of the situation, establishing how he is the only who can help them, and taking off blame from themselves. Stacey tries to procure her father-in-law’s sympathy for her dire situation by stressing the time and urgency of it.
A twelve year old boy a world away from his parents once wrote in a letter to his parents: “And I have nothing to comfort me, nor is there nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death.” This child was Richard Frethorne, and in “Letter to Father and Mother,” he communicates his desperation caused by the new world’s merciless environment to his parents to persuade them to send food and pay off his accumulated debts from the journey. He accomplishes this with deliberate word choice and allusions to the bible to appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos. Frethorne uses diction, imagery, and facts to create a letter to his parents which aims to garner sympathy for his state of life and to persuade them to send food and pay off his debts.
Imprisonment and constraint, can be felt in many different scenarios in the passage from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. However, we get these two feelings with a girl who is portrayed as an orphan in this chapter. When being an orphan many feelings can run through a person’s mind, for example abandonment and not feeling loved, or being/feeling trapped. The feeling of imprisonment and constraint in this chapter is expressed through the use of imagery and diction. Imagery is viewed in this chapter in a variety of sentences.
The newly established land of America was attempting to break away from the mother country, England, to become the independent land that we know as the United States. The letter by Abigail Adam was written to her beloved son whom was traveling abroad with his father. Throughout the letter, Adams uses inspiring diction, allusions to historical figures, and well timed metaphors to encourage her son to be resilient and not shy away from any challenges that may face him. In the letter, Adams compares her son to other great leaders using allusions and metaphors.
In America’s history, child labor was fiercely criticized. Many activists of child labor laws and women’s suffrage strived to introduce their own viewpoints to the country. Florence Kelley was a reformer who successfully changed the mindset of many Americans through her powerful and persuading arguments. Florence Kelley’s carefully crafted rhetoric strategies such as pathos, repetition, and sarcasm generates an effective and thought provoking tone that was in favor of women’s suffrage and child labor laws. Florence Kelley uses pathos continuously throughout her speech.
Abigail Adams Letter In 1780 Abigail Adams writes a letter to her son, John Quincy Adams. When Abigail writes this letter, John is on his second voyage, with his father, to France, America’s ally. When Abigail writes this letter she is trying to prove that going on this voyage will have great positive effects on his life. She is effective in proving her point because she uses Ethos, Logos, Pathos, and other rhetorical strategies convey her message and meaning to him.
Abagail Adams wrote a letter to her son, John Adams, who is traveling abroad with his father. Abigail Adams, who was a women back then during the Revolutionary War, didn’t have much political rights. Adams was huge in politics and so was her son, second president of the United States. Adam's uses rhetorical devices to advice her son that he is the only person that can control his future and he must know how to pull through difficulty when it's being tested. To advice her son about this, she uses many rhetorical strategies.
