Rhetorical Strategies In Now We Can Begin Crystal Eastman

Rhetorical Strategies in :Now we can Begin- Crystal Eastman

In the 1920’s there were many problems regarding women’s rights. The fight for the right to vote was extreme and women did all they could in order to achieve the passing of the amendment. After the 19th amendment was passed, Crystal Eastman was one of the many women that saw this as an opportunity to expand and to make more improvements in women's rights. “Now we can begin” is a speech that Eastman wrote in order to educate women and others about the difficult tasks that would remain after the amendment was passed. It was realized that even though they had accomplished the first big step in gaining more rights there were still more issues to deal with. In her speech Eastman effectively

Eastman addressed this issue by speaking to the mothers directly, she says, “ Women are to have children when they want them[...] That ensures some freedom of occupational choice; those who do not wish to be mothers will not have an undesired occupation thrust upon them by accident, and those who do wish to be mothers may choose in a general way how many years of their lives they will devote to the occupation of child raising” (“Now we can begin” 1920). Even though she is not using words like “us” or “we” you can sense a feeling of dedication and passion towards the issue. Her tone is serious and because she has children, she wants to be able help in all areas of women’s rights not just one part of it. She mentions all mothers and women that will be mothers. She doesn't focus on any one type of person, but involves the whole population of women. One could argue that pathos is interwoven into that quote. She gets into the emotions of the mothers that struggle with having no rights to their own bodies. More pathos is shown when she connects with the women about all the opportunities that are lost when they have

Every time that she includes a question like, “What, then, is “the matter with women”? What is the problem of women’s freedom?” (Eastman, “Now we can begin” 1920), she is prepared to answer it. The fact that she knows the answer to all these questions shows that she is truly dedicated and prepared for all of the duties that she has coming up in the future. Her audience begins to trust her because her answers are well thought out . Her word choice for answering these questions is also important. She does an outstanding job making her point clear when answering the above question, saying, “It seems to me to be this:[...] arrange the world so that women can be human beings, [...] second, if and when they choose housework and child-raising, to have that occupation recognized by the world as work, requiring a definite economic reward…”(Eastman, “Now we can begin” 1920). Her word choice plays a crucial part in her speech. If the wrong words were to be used, then her audience would have a lot more trouble confiding in