Sojourner Truth A'nt I a Woman

Sojourner Truth’s “Aren’t I a Woman?” speech still sends the same message in all there copies. The Version in the 50 essays book is the easiest to understand and read and it’s obviously a little diluted, but the reader can still get the big picture of the speech. The other two versions of Gage’s account of the convention contain much more detail and the original version of Truth’s speech. The extra details and original diction of Truth’s speech really enhance the overall story. The Pathos is stronger and the reader can create a vivid image of the convention at which the story takes place. The speech is written different but it’s not that hard to read or understand; it’s actually more exciting and fun to read than the speech written in the 50 essays book. One thing that stood out the most was that Sojourner’s speech had a different title in all three accounts. (Aren’t I a Woman?, Ain’t I A Woman?, A’nt I a Woman?)

Arent I woman response

Sojourner Truth was a powerful speaker and a very important African American women of the 1800s. In Truths “Aren’t I a woman” speech there is one part of rhetoric that just slaps the reader in the face. That part of rhetoric, is Pathos. In the speech Truth is clearly trying to make the audience feel a certain way and she does a marvelous job of persuading the audience.
Now Truths audience is already on her side but she wins them over even more with this strong speech. Right off the back Truth makes the audience feel sympathy towards her. At the beginning of the excerpt, Truth talks about how she isn’t treated like a lady and she goes on repeating “aren’t I a woman.” When someone is hurt so bad and they convey their massage to and huge audience, the audience is going to feel that same pain. When reading this, the reader will feel that same pain. The Pathos is Clearly established from the get go in Truth’s Speech and as it goes on she just adds more wood to this emotional fire. Her references to “women’s rights or Negroes’ rights” really gets her audience into the speech. The audience is riled up already and Truth feeds off the vibe. In the speech Truth uses examples of things to justify that women have rights. She even refers to God and Jesus. “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with him.” By saying this Truth feels that woman are actually higher than man. The pathos has changed; now the audience, well most of the audience, feels empowered and important. Not saying that they weren’t important from the beginning, its just that Truth helps these individuals realize that they are important and that they deserve to be treated better.
The strong emotions felt in Truth’s speech help her get the point across to her audience. Its was like she buttered them up and got them all rowdy and just threw the information at them. And this worked for Truth. The reader can determine that pathos is clearly evident and that it helps Truth transfer her message.

Slave Narratives

African American’s have had to fight and prove the white man wrong in just
about everything. In the end African Americans have succeeded at just about
everything except being president but that’s likely to change in the next few
months. The fight for African Americans right to express themselves through
literature was fought around the same time as the Civil War. Popular writings by
African Americans in the 19th century were slave narratives. William Craft,
Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs were early writers that wrote popular narratives. Rhetoric Devices were present in these stories. Well they weren’t present in the actual narrative but in the Prefaces that were written by white men. Strange that white men had a lot to do with the popular slave narratives. In the analysis of the two prefaces of Frederick Douglass’s Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Ethos was the rhetoric device that stood out the most in both pieces.

Before the ethos was completely established, the reader could infer that Wendell Phillips, the author of the first preface, was trying to attract a northern white male audience that knew slavery was inhumane but didn’t join anti-slavery groups that tried to fight for the cause. Wendell establishes his ethos and Douglass’s in this preface. Wendell starts the preface off by saying “My Dear Friend”. By starting his letter off like this he quickly establishes that he is a long time friend of Douglass. Wendell then starts to establish Douglass’s credibility, by noting the fact that he was a slave and that he is from the part of the United States where “slavery appears with its fairest features.” A few lines down Wendell gives Douglass’s narrative a big two thumbs when he says, “we have known you long, and can put the most entire confidence in your truth, candor, and sincerity. Everyone who has heard you speak has felt, and, I am confident, every one who reads your book will feel persuaded that you give them a fair specimen of the whole truth. No one-sided portrait.” Wendell has clearly established Douglass’s ethos and even a little pathos with his reference to feelings.

William Lloyd Garrison gives a writes a nice lengthy preface compared to Wendell. Garrison starts off with how he came to be associated with Douglass, just as Wendell established how he was friends with Douglass. Garrison meets Douglas at an anti-slavery convention Nantucket. Garrison proves that he is against slavery just like Douglass and this make him the perfect candidate to judge Douglass’s writings. Garrison tried to appeal to the same audience as Wendell, but Garrison may have tried to attract people in the south also. Garrison lets the readers know that Douglass was a fugitive slave and that in his many speeches Douglass proceeds “to narrate some of the facts in his own history as a slave”. Just like Wendell, Garrison helps establish Douglass’s ethos. Garrison praises and acknowledges Douglass’s ability to persuade and grasp the audience’s attention throughout the preface. Towards the end Garrison somewhat questions Douglass’s credibility by saying, “Mr. DOUGLASS has frankly disclosed the place of his birth, the names of those who claimed ownership in his body and soul, and the names also of those who committed the crimes which he has alleged against them. His statements, therefore, may easily be disproved, if they are untrue.” This was kind of puzzling that he said this, it gave the impression that maybe Garrison, deep down, didn’t trust or believe Douglass’s story. If this was true then maybe everything that was stated in the preface up to this point was just a big pile of crap. All of this may not have been a bowl of crap because at the end of Garrison’s preface he continues to praise Douglass’s narrative.

Both of these white men some to support Douglass and his attempt to let the public know what happens in the life of a slave. In reality Douglass needs the backing of white men because around this time White men are the only ones that have a say-so in pretty much all matters. It’s kind of bad that this black man had to depend on whites to get his story thru to other whites, but hey Wendell and Garrison did their job and help Establish the credibility or ethos that was needed to Help Douglass.

Self-Reliance Response

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self reliance is a very compelling piece of literature. Emerson’s use of rhetoric in this piece is amazing; this thing has just about everything in it. Emerson’s Self-Reliance deals with, well, being Self-Reliant. . By reading Self Reliance, one can determine it was written for males, mainly adults and those entering manhood. One can infer this throw Emerson’s repetition of the words ‘his’, ‘he’, ‘man’ and ‘men’ .The purpose of Self-Reliance, is to help readers realize that they need to think for themselves and trust themselves. In the Emerson’s essay he says, “ Man is timid and apologetic he is no longer upright; he dares not say ‘I think’, ‘I am’, but quotes some sage.” This statement supports the previous stated purpose of Self Reliance. Emerson also establishes Ethos by quoting phrases and by referring to people whose credibility is already firmly
The authors strong use of diction helps the reader to determine the time at which the essay was written and the author’s pathos. The spelling of certain words help the reader understand when this piece was written. Words like thee, thou, and thy let the reader know that this was written before the 2oth century. The spelling of words also helped. When common words like today, parlor, and tomorrow are spelled like to-day, parlour, and to-morrow, the reader will realize that this was written long ago. Self Reliance seems to sound like something that was intended to empower its audience. Throughout the text, there are many phrases and words that give the reader the sense that this piece of literature was meant to fire up or motivate them.
The author’s use of figurative language really stands out in Self Reliance. His use of metaphors, similes, analogies, etc. is unbelievable. At the beginning Emerson quotes Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune, the quote reads,
"Ne te quaesiveris extra."
"Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still."
“Man is his own star, and the soul that can Render an honest and perfect man.”, that deep, that’s really deep. Emerson used a lot of personification in Self Reliance. “malice and vanity wear the coat of philanthropy”, “truth is handsomer than affection and love”, “Nature is not slow to equip us in prison-uniform”, “prayer looks abroad and ask for some…”. The best use of figurative language was when Emerson was talking about society. “Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other…. it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is Christianized, it is rich, it is scientific; but this change is not amelioration.” “Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not.” This metaphor is deep, and its meaning it is important. There were other metaphors in Self Reliance; “Rage is decorous and prudent”, “virtues are penances”, “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide”. There is some much figurative language in Emerson’s writing that is somewhat hard to point out just a few good ones because the whole writing is good.
As stated before Rhetoric is clearly evident in Emerson’s work, but some parts of rhetoric stand out more than others. Self Reliance is a Rhetoric gol mine just like Anne Bradstreets poems. His writings prove that the use of rhetoric is important to help one get his or her point across.

Desiree's Baby by Kate Choplin

Desiree's Baby

As the day was pleasant, Madame Valmonde drove over to L'Abri to see Desiree and the baby. It made her laugh to think of Desiree with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that Desiree was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the gateway of Valmonde had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the big stone pillar. The little one awoke in his arms and began to cry for "Dada." That was as much as she could do or say. Some people thought she might have strayed there of her own accord, for she was of the toddling age. The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Mais kept, just below the plantation. In time Madame Valmonde abandoned every speculation but the one that Desiree had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing that she was without child of the flesh. For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere - the idol of Valmonde. It was no wonder, when she stood one day against the stone pillar in whose shadow she had lain asleep, eighteen years before, that Armand Aubigny riding by and seeing her there, had fallen in love with her. That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot. The wonder was that he had not loved her before; for he had known her since his father brought him home from Paris, a boy of eight, after his mother died there. The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles. Monsieur Valmonde grew practical and wanted things well considered: that is, the girl's obscure origin. Armand looked into her eyes and did not care. He was reminded that she was nameless. What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana? He ordered the corbeille from Paris, and contained himself with what patience he could until it arrived; then they were married.

< 2 >

Madame Valmonde had not seen Desiree and the baby for four weeks. When she reached L'Abri she shuddered at the first sight of it, as she always did. It was a sad looking place, which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a mistress, old Monsieur Aubigny having married and buried his wife in France, and she having loved her own land too well ever to leave it. The roof came down steep and black like a cowl, reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircled the yellow stuccoed house. Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall. Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime. The young mother was recovering slowly, and lay full length, in her soft white muslins and laces, upon a couch. The baby was beside her, upon her arm, where he had fallen asleep, at her breast. The yellow nurse woman sat beside a window fanning herself. Madame Valmonde bent her portly figure over Desiree and kissed her, holding her an instant tenderly in her arms. Then she turned to the child. "This is not the baby!" she exclaimed, in startled tones. French was the language spoken at Valmonde in those days. "I knew you would be astonished," laughed Desiree, "at the way he has grown. The little cochon de lait! Look at his legs, mamma, and his hands and fingernails - real finger-nails. Zandrine had to cut them this morning. Isn't it true, Zandrine?" The woman bowed her turbaned head majestically, "Mais si, Madame." "And the way he cries," went on Desiree, "is deafening. Armand heard him the other day as far away as La Blanche's cabin." Madame Valmonde had never removed her eyes from the child. She lifted it and walked with it over to the window that was lightest. She scanned the baby narrowly, then looked as searchingly at Zandrine, whose face was turned to gaze across the fields. "Yes, the child has grown, has changed," said Madame Valmonde, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. "What does Armand say?" Desiree's face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself.

< 3 > "

Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name; though he says not - that he would have loved a girl as well. But I know it isn't true. I know he says that to please me. And mamma," she added, drawing Madame Valmonde's head down to her, and speaking in a whisper, "he hasn't punished one of them - not one of them - since baby is born. Even Negrillon, who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work - he only laughed, and said Negrillon was a great scamp. Oh, mamma, I'm so happy; it frightens me." What Desiree said was true. Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened Armand Aubigny's imperious and exacting nature greatly. This was what made the gentle Desiree so happy, for she loved him desperately. When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God. But Armand's dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her. When the baby was about three months old, Desiree awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace. It was at first too subtle to grasp. It had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among the blacks; unexpected visits from far-off neighbors who could hardly account for their coming. Then a strange, an awful change in her husband's manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse. And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves. Desiree was miserable enough to die. She sat in her room, one hot afternoon, in her peignoir, listlessly drawing through her fingers the strands of her long, silky brown hair that hung about her shoulders. The baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy. One of La Blanche's little quadroon boys - half naked too - stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers. Desiree's eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby, while she was striving to penetrate the threatening mist that she felt closing about her. She looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him, and back again; over and over. "Ah!" It was a cry that she could not help; which she was not conscious of having uttered. The blood turned like ice in her veins, and a clammy moisture gathered upon her face.

< 4 >

She tried to speak to the little quadroon boy; but no sound would come, at first. When he heard his name uttered, he looked up, and his mistress was pointing to the door. He laid aside the great, soft fan, and obediently stole away, over the polished floor, on his bare tiptoes. She stayed motionless, with gaze riveted upon her child, and her face the picture of fright. Presently her husband entered the room, and without noticing her, went to a table and began to search among some papers which covered it. "Armand," she called to him, in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice. "Armand," she said again. Then she rose and tottered towards him. "Armand," she panted once more, clutching his arm, "look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me." He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him. "Tell me what it means!" she cried despairingly. "It means," he answered lightly, "that the child is not white; it means that you are not white." A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her nerved her with unwonted courage to deny it. "It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair," seizing his wrist. "Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand," she laughed hysterically. "As white as La Blanche's," he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone with their child. When she could hold a pen in her hand, she sent a despairing letter to Madame Valmonde. "My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For God's sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live." The answer that came was brief: "My own Desiree: Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you. Come with your child." When the letter reached Desiree she went with it to her husband's study, and laid it open upon the desk before which he sat. She was like a stone image: silent, white, motionless after she placed it there.

< 5 >

In silence he ran his cold eyes over the written words. He said nothing. "Shall I go, Armand?" she asked in tones sharp with agonized suspense. "Yes, go." "Do you want me to go?" "Yes, I want you to go." He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife's soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name. She turned away like one stunned by a blow, and walked slowly towards the door, hoping he would call her back. "Good-by, Armand," she moaned. He did not answer her. That was his last blow at fate. Desiree went in search of her child. Zandrine was pacing the sombre gallery with it. She took the little one from the nurse's arms with no word of explanation, and descending the steps, walked away, under the live-oak branches. It was an October afternoon; the sun was just sinking. Out in the still fields the negroes were picking cotton. Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore. Her hair was uncovered and the sun's rays brought a golden gleam from its brown meshes. She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off plantation of Valmonde. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds. She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again. Some weeks later there was a curious scene enacted at L'Abri. In the centre of the smoothly swept back yard was a great bonfire. Armand Aubigny sat in the wide hallway that commanded a view of the spectacle; and it was he who dealt out to a half dozen negroes the material which kept this fire ablaze. A graceful cradle of willow, with all its dainty furbishings, was laid upon the pyre, which had already been fed with the richness of a priceless layette. Then there were silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and embroideries; bonnets and gloves; for the corbeille had been of rare quality.

< 6 >

The last thing to go was a tiny bundle of letters; innocent little scribblings that Desiree had sent to him during the days of their espousal. There was the remnant of one back in the drawer from which he took them. But it was not Desiree's; it was part of an old letter from his mother to his father. He read it. She was thanking God for the blessing of her husband's love:-- "But above all," she wrote, "night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery."

A Rhetoric Explosion

Where is the best place to find rhetoric? This is a question that many students may ask, it can’t truly be answered but one thing is certain when one has to analyze poetry, they have hit a landmine of rhetoric. Take early American poet Anne Bradstreet. Yes a woman, someone has hit the rhetoric jackpot, especially with Mrs. Bradstreet. Anne Bradstreet was one of the earliest feminist of America; she was alive during the 17th century, a time when women pretty much had no say in anything. Two of her poems; The Author to Her Book and To My Dear and Loving Husband, contained much rhetoric that was just waiting to be analyzed.

The first poem that was analyzed was To My Dear and Loving Husband. Right of the back repetition was noticed in the first three lines of the poem. The word If and ever were the first two words of the first three lines. Another thing that is significant is the syntax. There is clearly a rhyming pattern, at least at first. The poem seems to have an aabbccdeff pattern. Why is this pattern broken up? The two words that break up this pattern are recompense and quench. Diction also plays a huge role in this poem. First off, the author uses words like thee, doth, nor, and thy. These words let the readers know that this poem was written in an older time period, maybe the 15th, 16th, or 17th century. Imagery is also present. In the poem there is line that reads “Or all the riches that the East doth hold.” The author uses compares her and her husband’s love to the riches that are in the world, riches like gold and silver, or money and wealth in general. Another use of figurative language that Anne Bradstreet uses is in line 8 when she says “My love is such that rivers cannot quench.” What does she mean by quench, is she thirsty for more love or is her love like a fire that can’t be put out by even this large amount of water. One last thing that stood out in this poem was the end. In the last two lines the rhyming pattern seems to be broken again, the lines read,

“Then while we live, in love let's so persevere

that when we live no more, we may live ever.”

At first glance one may believe that these words don’t rhyme at all, but one must not forget to take account in that this poem was written in a different time period, and words may have sounded different back then. This poem was loaded with rhetoric; this shows that the author was very well educated especially for a woman.

The second poem that was analyzed was Anne Bradstreet’s poem titled The Author and Her Book. Once again diction helps the reader understand that the poem was written in an earlier time period. Words like thou, thy, thence, and thee support this claim. Bradstreet seems to have a knack for rhyming patters with a twist at the end, this poems pattern is; aabbccccddeeffgghhiijkjkll. This poem seems to contain a lot of metaphors too. The first line of the poem contains a metaphor, this line reads:

“Thou ill-form'd offspring of my feeble brain,”

After seeing the word offspring one may have believed that Bradstreet was talking about one of her children, but after careful analysis one can understand that the author is actually referring to her poem as being from her. Her poems are like her children. Once this is taken into account the poem is much easier to understand. For example in lines 10-14, which read,

“Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;

Yet being mine own, at length affection would

Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:

I wash'd thy face, but more defects I saw,

And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.”

By washing thy face, Bradstreet means that she fixed the poems till they were clean or perfected. The metaphors in this poem are amazing, but wait, there is one more metaphor, and guess where it is. Once again Anne Bradstreet has left the readers with a twist at the end, the last two lines of the poem read,

“And for thy mother, she alas is poor, Which caus'd her thus to send thee out of door”

At first glance it seems that Anne Bradstreet is poor and in need of money, so in order to save money she had to get rid of her child. This is not what these two lines mean at all. Anne Bradstreet is not poor at all she is actually quite well off. The reader must take into account that the author is not talking about an actual child but the poem itself. Sometimes, back when this poem was written, women used to get their literary work publish in order to make a little cash, this is what Anne was saying in her poem.

Anne Bradstreets poems showed how poetry can contain huge amounts of rhetoric. Her poems contained almost every type of rhetoric there is. Anne Bradstreet was a gifted poet who is well respected for her skill.

who is this Anne Chic?

Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 to Thomas Dudley. At age 16 she married her “childhood” sweetheart Simon Bradstreet, who was 25 years old. Simon was close to Anne’s father and in 1630 Mr. Dudley and his family, including Simon and Anne, sailed to America. Anne was well tutored in Literature and history, and also Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, and of course English. Anne’s Father and husband were heavily involved in the early government of Massachusetts, and both eventually became governor of Massachusetts. By her family being involved in politics, Anne had it better than most women. Anne was allowed to use her brain to the fullest extent and show her charm and intelligence, while other women were punished for showing such independence. Ann Hutchinson was a friend of Anne’s, Ann Hutchinson’s fiery spirit led to her death unlike Anne, whose spirit led to profit and praise. Anne who mainly wrote poetry for herself, her family, and friends took her poetry seriously. Anne was originally known historically for her husbands, her work appealed to many 20th century feminist, because of them Anne Bradstreet, a pious mother of 8, was finally recognized as the poetic genius she was.