Ain't I Woman

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Samuen, Mia, Julia, Kayla
Mrs. Greene
English 1102
18 January 2018
Ain’t I Woman  Rhetorical Reading Response
In Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I Woman” speech (1851), Truth suggests that women-especially woman of color- should obtain more rights than what they are given. This essay is developed through some of her own experiences; she was a woman capable of working like a man and being beaten like a man. If that was the case, then why wouldn’t she share the equal rights of one? Her purpose is to persuade her audience to accept the equality between women and men. The audience being white women and men at the women women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio.

I felt a sense of empowerment after reading Truth’s speech. Her use of personal experience when dealing with slavery added to the loss of her children makes the reader and audience feel her pain and suffering as a strong black woman. Truth relays her past sorrowfully, “I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen ‘em mos’ all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a’n’t I a woman?” She knew that the other mothers-black or white- would relate somehow and feel her pain. Even though I am not a mother, I hope to be one one day. I cannot imagine the pain she had to go through, knowing that no one cared for her or her children’s well-being. Regardless of her weak position in society, she made the choice to speak out in hopes something could be done about the inequality of women and black people in the old American society.

Truth’s use of logos and pathos made her speech more appealing and captured the attention of whoever was listening.  She did not back down when she was challenged by other men in the room.  When she was confronted by a man who said that “women can’t have as much rights as men ’cause Christ wan’t a woman!”, she overcame this by replying “Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman!”.  She fought for her rights and she never yielded when they gave her reasons why women should not have as many of them.  If Truth did not use logos throughout her speech to refute her challenger’s claims,  they would have easily won and women would never have the rights that they have today.  Her use of pathos to appeal to the audience’s emotions was also a very poignant part of her speech. She described her children being taken away from her and sold into slavery, the horrible beatings she faced, and the labor she was forced to do for people just like the ones sat right in front of her at the convention. It was most likely impossible for an audience member to leave that room emotionally unscathed. These rhetorical strategies Truth employed in her renowned speech greatly improved the persuasive effectiveness of her words.
Works Cited
Truth, Sojourner, “Ain’t I Woman.” Launchpad Solo.
http://www.macmillanhighered.com/launchpadsolo/readwrite/7385790/Home#/launchpad/item/bsi__D0F47A8D__D83F__438F__AA63__932F9FD647AC?mode=Preview&includeDiscussion=False&renderFNE=True&renderIn=fne

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