Sojourner Truth Rhetoric

Sixty years after the United States was created many people started to rethink slavery and the lack of women’s rights. Sojourner Truth was a victim of these concurring issues. IN “Ain’t I A Woman?”, Sojourner Truth is claiming that women in her day and age are being treated as if they are less able than men to be who they want, and this robs Truth and all women of the opportunities they were promised which angers and oppresses her. Truth is using repetition, pathos, and ethos to prove her claim.

Throughout her speech, Sojourner Truth is utilizing repetition to the best of her ability in the form of rhetorical questions. While speaking about how she can do as much as a man, then she asks, “Ain’t I A Woman?” every few sentences. This simplistic idea of repetition impacted the audience substantially. WHile what seemed like a harmless question makes the audience (women) want to rise up and fight for the rights they so rightfully deserve. Which accomplished Truth’s mission and proves her point about how women really feel about their political and social status in the American life. The audience sees this as an opportunity to express their anger for them being oppressed. Repetition was used effectively throughout the use of rhetorical questions.

Second, Truth uses pathos to convey her feelings to her audience about the

In her speech, Sojourner Truth asks a question, then answers it with an ethical answer which had an effective outcome on the audience. SHe asks “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him!”. This shines light behind many beliefs of many people. Truth showed her audience just how important women are and she tries to extend her claim to the audience to make them feel as entitled as they should be. This piece of rhetorical literature was formed to anger her audience and make them see the ethics behind the importance of women’s role in the