Eliminating Race and Gender in the Fight for Equal Rights in Sojourner Truth’s, “Ar’nt I a Woman” and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s, “The Slave Mother”
By applying the theory of Feminist Criticism to Sojourner Truth’s, “Ar’nt I a Woman” and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s, “The Slave Mother” one can identify several ways both poets are able to claim their authority over the language in their texts to expose the illogical reasoning of the antagonists -- those supporting the patriarchal state. By applying rhetorical literary devices as well as collectively using imagery, slang, and improper English both poets introduce several types of universally understood emotions which invite the sentiment of any human being, regardless of the entirely differing …show more content…
Harper uses her authority as a poet to deliver a message that is emotionally frustrating to any mother regardless of her skin color. Harper states, “he is not hers, although her blood/ is coursing through his veins!” (61). Thus Harper is able to simultaneously able detach race and gender from her universal message while making it a point that the presumable inferiority can be dismantled by presenting universally understood forms of compassion as is the closeness of a woman to her child. Therefore, Harper is able to create a space for even a white mother, to feel empathetic toward the black mothers who lose their children to slavery regardless of never having experienced the trauma for …show more content…
The question, “And arn’t I a woman” is asked several times in Truth’s text. Moreover, each time the phrase is repeated it gains more inclusiveness in a universal fight for rights due to the context it is placed in. For instance when Truth states, “I could work as much and eat as much as a man--- when I could get it--- and bear the lash as well! And arn’t I a woman?”, she has juxtapositioned the repetitive phrase to point out the flawed argument that men and women cannot perform the same amount of work (47). Overall, Truth use of anaphora and juxtaposition logically leads common people to feel deserving of equality rather than creating a hierarchy of a dominant gender and
By applying the theory of Feminist Criticism to Sojourner Truth’s, “Ar’nt I a Woman” and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s, “The Slave Mother” one can identify several ways both poets are able to claim their authority over the language in their texts to expose the illogical reasoning of the antagonists -- those supporting the patriarchal state. By applying rhetorical literary devices as well as collectively using imagery, slang, and improper English both poets introduce several types of universally understood emotions which invite the sentiment of any human being, regardless of the entirely differing …show more content…
Harper uses her authority as a poet to deliver a message that is emotionally frustrating to any mother regardless of her skin color. Harper states, “he is not hers, although her blood/ is coursing through his veins!” (61). Thus Harper is able to simultaneously able detach race and gender from her universal message while making it a point that the presumable inferiority can be dismantled by presenting universally understood forms of compassion as is the closeness of a woman to her child. Therefore, Harper is able to create a space for even a white mother, to feel empathetic toward the black mothers who lose their children to slavery regardless of never having experienced the trauma for …show more content…
The question, “And arn’t I a woman” is asked several times in Truth’s text. Moreover, each time the phrase is repeated it gains more inclusiveness in a universal fight for rights due to the context it is placed in. For instance when Truth states, “I could work as much and eat as much as a man--- when I could get it--- and bear the lash as well! And arn’t I a woman?”, she has juxtapositioned the repetitive phrase to point out the flawed argument that men and women cannot perform the same amount of work (47). Overall, Truth use of anaphora and juxtaposition logically leads common people to feel deserving of equality rather than creating a hierarchy of a dominant gender and