Rhetorical Analysis: Voices For Women's Rights
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Learning rhetorical terminology can sometimes seem like a thankless task. After all, why do we need to know the difference between anaphora and asyndeton? The answer is that these labels and concepts help us explore what makes language effective. By looking at the ways authors responds to their situation, by tracing the appeals they use, and by analyzing the specific features of their language, we can make real discoveries about the power of language. We call this process rhetorical analysis. To give a specific topical ground for your own rhetorical analysis, we will be looking at three texts by women who wrote or spoke in favor of women's rights in 18th- and 19th-century America. To give some background, in the early years of the American republic, ...women could not vote or hold office in any state, they had no access to higher education, and they were excluded from professional occupations. American law accepted the principle that a wife had no legal identity apart from her husband. She could not be sued, nor could she bring a legal suit; she could not make a contract, nor could she own property. She was not permitted to control her own wages or gain custody of her children in case of separation or divorce. ("Women's Rights." Digital History. University of Houston, 2013. Web.) Responding to these conditions, Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth crafted eloquent and heartfelt statements that testify to the importance of recognizing women's rights. The biographies below are from the National Women's Hall of Fame, and they will serve as an introduction to the texts you will be reading by each woman.
Abigail Adams
Wife of one president and mother of another, Abigail Adams was more than a family helpmate. Insightful, witty, and intensely concerned with politics, she shared and shaped her husband John's political thought and career. Because of his service to the nation in war and diplomacy, they spent more than half their married life apart, but they communicated closely. In ealy 1776 she was caring for their four young children alone, but she wrote him to urge daring and boldness, quoting Shakespeare: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune."
In her famous "Remember the Ladies" letter, Abigail Adams half jestingly proposed that women should claim their share of liberty. She objected specifically to the legal codes under which married women could not own property. But she was ahead of her time; later generations of women would have to struggle to change such laws. " I never wanted your advice and assistance more in my life," John Adams wrote to her earnestly after his election as the second president of the United States. Ironically, the reinforcement he gained from Abigail may have prevented him from developing the willingness to compromise. His unbending devotion to principle helped make him a one-term president. In the following excerpts from her letters, Abigail Adams shares her thoughts on women's rights and education. Notice the wide range of topics that interest her, and the teasing tone she takes with her husband when she threatens to "foment a Rebelion."
Lucy Stone
As an orator and an editor, Lucy Stone won innumerable converts to the
cause of women's rights. Growing up on the family farm, she learned the
difficulties women faced. Her mother's hardships distressed her, and her
father ridiculed Lucy's desire to attend college. At the age of
twenty-five she entered Oberlin, a pioneering co-educational college.
She supported her studies through teaching and housework until her
father at last relented and gave her some assistance. Her study of Greek
and Hebrew convinced her that crucial passages in the Bible (those
declaring woman inferior) had been translated wrongly.
When she graduated from Oberlin in 1847, Lucy Stone became the first Massachusetts women to earn a college degree. She was a gifted public speaker, and a dedicated abolitionist. Soon she was appointed a lecturer for the American Anti-slavery Society. Her natural eloquence drew large crowds, though she often had to face hostility. In 1850 she helped organize a women's rights convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. There at the first "national" convention Lucy Stone delivered a speech on women's rights that converted Susan B. Anthony to the cause. When she married Henry Blackwell (brother of Elizabeth Blackwell) Lucy Stone kept her own name, thus coining the phrase "Lucy Stoner" to describe a married woman who retains her maiden name. Lucy Stone took the lead in organizing the American Woman Suffrage Association. This group, considered the most moderate wing of the women suffrage movement, conflicted with Stanton and Anthony over policy and tactics. Lucy Stone and her husband founded and edited the organization's weekly newspaper, The Woman's Journal, which was considered "the voice of the woman's movement." Lucy Stone spent her lifetime battling for women's rights and inspiring others to join her cause. Stone made the following speech at the 1855 National Women's Rights Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, in response to a man who accused the movement of being the work of "a few disappointed women." Notice how she turns the insult around in her response and gives it a broader significance.
Sojourner Truth
She was born a slave named Isabella in Ulster County, New York. After slavery was finally abolished in New York, she found refuge with a Quaker family named Van Wagener and took their name. Isabella Van Wagener was caught up in the atmosphere of religious excitement then sweeping American Protestantism. She did missionary work among the poor of New York City and was associated briefly with a Christian community headed by a dynamic leader who turned out to be a scoundrel.
In 1843 she set out on her own as a traveling preacher. God, she said, had given her a new name: Sojourner Truth. As was common in that era, religious fervor led her into association with reformers who hoped to create a better world. Tall, gaunt, and commanding, she lent her powerful talents as a speaker to the antislavery movement. When she happened upon a women's rights convention, she made that her cause as well. Illiterate all her life, she spoke more often among whites than her own people. Her homely eloquence and native wit disarmed hostile crowds. At the Civil War's end she worked as counselor to the newly freed slaves who gathered in Washington. Hoping to aid in their transition to freedom, she circulated a petition for public lands to be set aside in the West for a "Negro state." She continued to speak, proclaiming God's love and the rights of the disadvantaged. Sojourner Truth made the following speech at a women's convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. Like Stone, she is answering earlier comments made by men in the audience. Notice the tremendous authority with which she answers their arguments. What makes her speech so effective?
A Note on the Text
You might be interested to know that the text of "Ain't I a Woman" is actually a later recreation. Twelve years after the event, one of the organizers wrote about the speech, describing Truth's "deep, wonderful tones" and the "roars of applause" in the audience. The account was written in the typical style white writers used in the 19th century to depict African American speech, a style which is frankly offensive to modern readers (you can read this original text at the Sojourner Truth Institute website). More recent editors have updated the spelling and language to give us the text we use today. To see what the speech might have sounded like when it was given, watch this recreation by Golden Globe-winning actress Alfre Woodard: Assignment
This assignment asks you to pick two of these sources and compare the ways they use language to make an effective argument for women's rights. Consider all the elements of rhetoric that you have learned about in this unit—the rhetorical situations being addressed, the kinds of appeals these women are using, and the rhetorical devices that animate their language. Download the file below for details on the assignment.
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