Rhetorical Analysis of the Children's Era by Margaret Sanger
Rhetorical Analysis of “The Children’s Era”
Today, the availability of birth control is taken for granted. There was a time, not long passed, during which the subject was illegal (“Margaret Sanger,” 2013, p.1). That did not stop the resilient leader of the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger was a nurse and women’s activist. While working as a nurse, Sanger treated many women who had suffered from unsafe abortions or tried to self-induce abortion (p.1). Seeing this devastation and noting that it was mainly low income women suffering from these problems, she was inspired to dedicate her life to educating women on family planning—even though the discussion of which was highly illegal at the time (p.1). She was often in trouble with the law and had to flee the country on more than one occasion (p.2). However, Sanger never gave up on her quest to empower women with the right to choose motherhood. During the early 1920’s, she advocated for the legalization of birth control. She founded the first birth control clinic in the United States and what is now Planned Parenthood (p.2). Sanger believed that no child should be unwanted or born into adverse circumstances and that the use of birth control would establish a society of healthy and happy families (p. 2).
In 1925, while attending a national birth control conference in New York, Sanger delivered her speech, “The Children’s Era” (“American Birth Control League,” 2012, para. 4). She used many rhetorical devices to sway and solidify her audience’s perception. The predominant devices were logos and pathos. Metaphors, alliteration, and repetition were used to strengthen the elements of the logos and pathos arguments. Metaphors help people understand an idea by comparing the unfamiliar to the familiar. Alliteration brings power to the words because of uniformity. Repetition helps the audience to remember the most important points. These devices were used primarily to reinforce her main rhetorical devices
Today, the availability of birth control is taken for granted. There was a time, not long passed, during which the subject was illegal (“Margaret Sanger,” 2013, p.1). That did not stop the resilient leader of the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger was a nurse and women’s activist. While working as a nurse, Sanger treated many women who had suffered from unsafe abortions or tried to self-induce abortion (p.1). Seeing this devastation and noting that it was mainly low income women suffering from these problems, she was inspired to dedicate her life to educating women on family planning—even though the discussion of which was highly illegal at the time (p.1). She was often in trouble with the law and had to flee the country on more than one occasion (p.2). However, Sanger never gave up on her quest to empower women with the right to choose motherhood. During the early 1920’s, she advocated for the legalization of birth control. She founded the first birth control clinic in the United States and what is now Planned Parenthood (p.2). Sanger believed that no child should be unwanted or born into adverse circumstances and that the use of birth control would establish a society of healthy and happy families (p. 2).
In 1925, while attending a national birth control conference in New York, Sanger delivered her speech, “The Children’s Era” (“American Birth Control League,” 2012, para. 4). She used many rhetorical devices to sway and solidify her audience’s perception. The predominant devices were logos and pathos. Metaphors, alliteration, and repetition were used to strengthen the elements of the logos and pathos arguments. Metaphors help people understand an idea by comparing the unfamiliar to the familiar. Alliteration brings power to the words because of uniformity. Repetition helps the audience to remember the most important points. These devices were used primarily to reinforce her main rhetorical devices
Cited: American Birth Control League. (2012). Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Birth_Control_League Margaret Sanger. (2013). The Biography Channel. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/margaret-sanger-9471186 Sanger, M. (1925). The children’s era. Iowa State University Archives of Women’s Political Communication. Retrieved from http://womenspeecharchive.org/women/profile/speech/index.cfm?ProfileID=113SpeechID=478