Write a 250-word essay in which you describe the speaker's use of tone in "Ain't I a Woman?" Use examples from the
text to support your response

On May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth gave her most famous speech at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. Truth, being born a slave and escaping to her freedom, was both a women’s rights activist and abolitionist. In a male-dominated society, Truth wanted to gain awareness for the inequalities of women and African Americans during the time period. She makes several claims how African Americans and women are not inferior to the white male population. By targeting those males, Truth portrays them as antagonists and thus gives the women and the African Americans something to focus their struggles on. Sojourner Truth attempts to persuade her audience to support the women’s rights movement and on subtler terms, to support the need for African…show more content…

Other words like “girl” and “lady” have the connotation of being a young female, which would not support her argument as strongly. With only these methods, Sojourner Truth has already established a very encouraging and authoritative tone. The addition of anaphora and juxtaposition further helps Truth establish her tone. The repetition of the anaphora, “Ain’t I a woman?” is consistent throughout the speech. Slowly but surely, the repetition ingrains the idea into the audience’s mind and is the most memorable part of the speech. It excites the audience and convinces them to believe in her claim that women and African Americans deserve equal rights as white males. The question itself is supposed to be answered in agreement. Personally, it is easier to tell someone, “yes” than it is to say, “no.” The use of juxtaposition in her speech is very effective, as it emphasizes the rights that white men have compared to what little rights woman and African Americans have. When she says, “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!” she is demonstrating the difference between the two. The contrast can clearly and easily be seen. She follows the sentence with, “And ain’t I a woman?” which demonstrates

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