Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Witt Spiller
Ms. Norton
AP Lang
December 5, 2016
Sojourner Truth and Susan B Anthony were two identical thinkers in different situation
who inspired different people. Sojourner Truth was born into slavery, worked manually during
her life and birthed thirteen children. Her arguments were centralized around her own
capabilities and religion. She often times bases arguments around Gods will while using logos
appeals by stating her own abilities while maintaining the fact of her gender (Truth). She uses
force to provide a pathos appeal to strengthen her logical arguments while using sarcastic
rhetoric to inspire thought in the logic of the listener. Susan B Anthony was born into a Quaker
Family, she was a teacher and later dedicated her life to fighting for womens rights. Susan B
Anthony, much like Truth, spoke as though she was a above authority (Anthony). The speeches
Aint I a Women by Sojourner Truth and On Womens Rights by Susan B Anthony provide
an example of the rhetorical strategies of pathos and logos exhibited by the two authors in their
persuasive speeches.
One of Anthony's most persuasive techniques used is her appeal to the promises of
American democracy. She explains the idealistic american socio-political setting and contrasts it
with the reality of the United States. This parallelism is highly effective in her work and in her
speeches. Anthony did not hesitate to point out that the founding of America, as a nation, was
predicated upon the idea that individual voices need to be validated (Anthony). She was wise
Spiller 2!
enough to not simply dismiss America, but rather argue that the fundamental greatness of the
nation and the democratic settings is one where it recognizes its mistakes and quickly seeks to
rectify them. In this notion of "forming a more perfect union," Anthony is able to present her
vision of women's suffrage in a manner that is able to be seen not merely as a political response,
but rather as a historical reality in the American narrative (Anthony). In utilizing this parallelism
as a rhetorical device, Anthony is able to persuade the audience of the pressing need for the
Sojourn Truth mirror many elements found in On Womens Right to Vote while
additionally providing more specific rhetorical devices. Devices such as plain folk and anaphora
further push the pathos and ethos agenda. She speaks as though she is with every person in her
audience and uses that to stoke an emotional rise from the listeners. One difference in Truths
writing compared to that of Anthony is her use of slang. Even in the title of her famous essay,
Truth uses the word Aint in her repetitive, rhetorical question (Truth). This usage speaks to
the people, makes her seem as one of the folk. Her diction provides an appeal to the general
public while remaining unfazed by authority. These tactics combined with powerful rhetoric
The two feminists pushed forward the movement of womens suffrage through powerful
diction, logos and pathos appeal. Provided the entirely different backgrounds, their similar
rhetorical strategies in attempt to accomplish the same exemplifies the effect of these specific
rhetorical devices. One from slavery, the other from quakers, both women provided bounds and
leaps for the attainment of Womens suffrage even thought they did not live to see its effects. The
speeches Aint I a Women by Sojourner Truth and On Womens Rights by Susan B Anthony
Spiller 3!
mirror many rhetorical devices through logos and pathos while still giving their own respective
Works Cited
Truth, S. (1851). Ain't I a Woman?. Civil Rights and Conflict in the United States: Selected
185/civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-states-selected-speeches/3089/aint-i-a-
woman/
"The History Place - Great Speeches Collection: Susan B. Anthony Speech - Women's Right To