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Rhetorical Analysis Of Sojourner Truth's Speech

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On May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered a speech at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio. She delivers this speech to attack arguments made by clergymen against women's rights. Sojourner Truth uses repetition and loaded words to make her point clear and effective, and to argue against the belief that women are inferior to men. Her use of rhetorical devices plays a big role in why her speech made such a big effect on her audience and the role it played in the fight for women's rights.

Truth uses repetition when she repeats the rhetorical question, "ain't I a woman? (Truth)" She does this to make her point clear and to appeal to logic. The clergymen at the convention make the argument that women need to be "helped into carriages, …show more content…

Loaded words play a major role in establishing pathos. Pathos is a rhetorical appeal aimed at the audience's emotions to persuade them to agree with a claim. A common argument that was made by the clergymen at the convention is that "women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman. (Truth)" This shows that most of the people at the convention were very religious, which makes words like "Christ" and "God" very impactful to the audience. Truth uses this to her advantage and asks, "Where did your Christ come from? (Truth)" This question and the use of the loaded word "Christ" appeals to the audience's emotions because of their religious beliefs, as well as the clergymen who used the Bible as a reason to discriminate against women. Truth then answers her question by saying that Christ came "from God and a woman. (Truth)" The audience cannot argue with this statement, because even the Bible confirms it to be true. This causes the statement to have a powerful and persuasive effect on the audience. The word "God" is also a loaded word because God is an extremely prominent figure to the audience, so Truth's use of that name in her speech has an emotional impact on her religious audience and the clergymen. By saying that Christ came from God and a woman, Truth drastically changes the way people view and treat

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