Theme Of Abigail Adams Letter To Her Son

Throughout Abigail Adams’ letter to her son, John Quincy Adams, she is sure to give him her best wishes for his journey to France. Although she is encouraging of this voyage he has gone on, she still feels the need to advise him about how this trip will affect him throughout his life. In doing this, she uses metaphors, allusions, and parallelism to construct a concerned yet encouraging letter to John. Beginning the letter, Abigail makes it known that her only intention for her son is to be safe rather than sorry. She wants the best for him, much like any other parent would. To convey this sense of pride, she uses many emotional appeals so that John is able to connect with what she is telling him to understand. Without any knowledge that her son would one day become the president of the United …show more content…
Throughout the the text, she uses examples of parallelism to further ingrain the feeling of self-confidence in himself. By repeating the words “you” and “your”, she is giving him the opportunity to feel independent and capable. Abigail mentions how “[his] knowledge. . . incitements. . . [and] mind” are the qualities that are leading him safely about the journey to France. When she adds the allusion and apostrophe to Cicero, she is comparing John to this great leader, who is best known for his great political accomplishments after gaining many experiences throughout his own life. She mentions that one cannot “[shine] so distinguished. . .” unless they have endured hardships at some point in their lifetime. Abigail’s goal is for John to make this connection with Cicero in order for him to keep persevering through scrutiny and judgement. By using the examples together, they justify her means to encourage him to take on this daunting