Rhetorical Analysis And Ain T I A Woman

Throughout history, women have been denounced their civil rights; thus, women have fought persistently for equality. In Akron, Ohio, 1851, a Women’s Rights Convention took place in battle for women’s suffrage. It was at this convention where significant figure Sojourner Truth, used rhetorical strategies in her speech, “And Ain’t I a Woman?”, to challenge the idea that women, specifically African American women, are inferior. Truth establishes her credibility and logically appeals to her audience to achieve her purpose of fostering equal rights between men and women. To begin, Truth establishes her credibility through the utilization of anecdotes. Among her personal anecdotes, Truth states, “I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into
Truth skillfully incorporates the repetition of the rhetorical question, “And ain’t I a woman?” to invoke a sense of empowerment among women, and to emphasize the equality women demand and deserve. Preceding the questions, Truth illustrates a credible image of her strength and persistence she had gained during her experiences of slavery. With this notion, Truth refutes the stereotype men often make of women: that women are weak and inferior. Therefore, why should women be restricted the same rights that men are freely allowed to exercise? Comparatively, Truth continues to use logic when she alludes to an uniting force: God. Truth states “he says women can't have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a women! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from?”, to once again discredit the men at the convention. Truth points out the fallacies in their argument, referencing her ideas to the common religious figure, Eve. Notably, Eve is epitomized to attest that she was a prominent woman in being directly created by God and placed solely on Earth to help Adam. Thus, the question derived is: why should men discriminate against a sex that was viable in the creation of the