Richard Perez, Tatiana Foster, Comfort Oyeyemi, and Kadayjah Tanksley
January 18, 2018
English 1102
Dr. Cantice Greene
Rhetorical Reading Response “Ain’t I a Woman”
In Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman” (1851) she reveals the harsh fact that women, especially women of color, aren’t receiving the amount of respect that they deserve. Truth develops this idea by providing religious allusions, repeated rhetorical questions, and analogies. This speech was written in order to argue for the rights of women and impact those who believed that women didn’t deserve fair treatment. Truth’s intended audience can be described as the men and women of that time frame.
Truth’s speech was irritating to read. Truth talks about a conflict that has been solved in our current generation, which makes the topic uninteresting to me. The text of the speech is difficult to understand because of the thick southern accent the author is trying to imply. This makes the text hard to understand and makes me reread unknown letter combinations to help me comprehend what is trying to be said. However, the speech was somewhat enjoyable because of the brief imagery that Truth uses throughout her speech.
Truth’s speech was irritating to read. Truth talks about a conflict that has been solved in our current generation, which makes the topic uninteresting to me. The text of the speech is difficult to understand because of the thick southern accent the author is trying to imply. This makes the text hard to understand and makes me reread unknown letter combinations to help me comprehend what is trying to be said. However, the speech was somewhat enjoyable because of the brief imagery that Truth uses throughout her speech.
Although the dialogue was slightly hard to comprehend, Sojourner Truth did a good job making the reader feel like part of the audience in the crowd. Truth uses imagery to describe how she wasn’t treated the same as white women. “Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!” (Truth), this quote gives three different scenes that we can picture in our head. It also helps us pinpoint the time frame and environment because of the word carriages. The way the text is written enhances the feel of being there. “And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power)’’ (Truth), in this quote, Truth is asking a question and is followed by a command with an exclamation mark. This makes Truth feel like she is in front of the reader. It also gives her a feeling of authority. To add on, Truth’s arm is described as muscular; giving us an idea of what she looked like. “Eliciting at almost every sentence deafening applause’’ (Truth), the quote describes the roaring claps that happen after every sentence that Truth says. This implies to our hearing sense to accomplish the feeling of being in the crowd. It also shows how empowering her speech is to the audience. Overall, with all these elements put together, it helps provide a captivating experience by making the reader’s senses visualize the given environment.
Works Cited
Truth, Sojourner. “Ain’t I a Woman.” Launchpad, 1851. http://www.macmillanhighered.com/launchpadsolo/readwrite/7385790/Home#/launchpad/item/MODULE_bsi__2B8776E4__C845__493C__8BFF__4BCA15B8E06E/bsi__D0F47A8D__D83F__438F__AA63__932F9FD647AC?mode=Preview&getChildrenGrades=True&includeDiscussion=False&readOnly=False&toc=syllabusfilter&renderIn=fne
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