Human Nature In Olaudah Equiano, And Thomas Jefferson

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Human nature is the way a human thinks, feels, and behaves. The authors; Jonathan Edwards, Olaudah Equiano, and Thomas Jefferson learn the importance of understanding human nature in Early American Texts, through written history. They all have distinctive views of human nature through the relationship of the government, law, religion, and equality. Edwards and Equiano are quite similar, believing human nature is cruel and brutal, whereas Jefferson differs from the two, believing in equality between the people. They use rhetorical strategies such as; imagery, connotative diction, and parallelism to reveal how human nature should be carefully understood to be protected from being manipulated and to understand where it stands in society. Jonathan …show more content…
Every human is born into having natural rights, which should not be abused or taken away. Jefferson uses parallelism to get his point across, stating certain words and phrases repetitively throughout this autobiography. Jefferson says, “any form of Government becomes destructive… it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it… institute new Government.” The government’s main purpose is to secure the rights of the colonies. If they fail to do so, the colonists are be able to change it or get rid of it. Their human rights should not be abused or taken advantage of. Jefferson also uses loaded words to draw out some emotions from the audience in his writing. He sets a certain mood throughout his autobiography to seek in hopes for an emotional response or spark. He states, “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.” The colonists are taken advantage of by King George III and have no representation to do anything about it. Their rights are stripped away, properties are destroyed, and so are their lives. King George III does not care about the colonists, only caring about things that suits his interests. Without the rights the colonists are rightfully entitled to, the colonists are fed up with the king’s actions, which leads to a desire in the colonists to separate from Britain, rather than staying under the King’s control and obeying his

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