What Is The Alliteration In Alfred M Green Speech

In Alfred M. Green’s speech in Philadelphia during the first month of the Civil war on the topic of African Americans joining the Union army, he uses alliteration and parallel structure to explain that while the past has been harsh to blacks, it is still necessary to fight for their country to gain the freedom they desire. The African American men living in the Northern U.S. are driven to fight for the right to join the Union army in the Civil War. Green uses alliteration to display his condemnation of the African Americans for using previous injustices as an excuse to avoid fighting for their beliefs, as well as using this strategy to convince them to fight to join the Union army. Initially, he alliterates the letter ‘s’ as he says, “received …show more content…
He understands how their determination is injured, and how after fighting with no results, they have little fight or willpower left. His argument is that all the efforts of their ancestors will have been for naught if they give up, and so instead of being discouraged when the fight for freedom is finally making progress, they need to fight to make all those past efforts worthwhile. Later on in the letter, Green repeats “let us” with a strong action word. For example, he says, “let us endeavor to hope for the future[...] let us, then, take up the sword”(lines 30/36). This wording of “let us” creates a sense of community through both their race and their collective goal of equal rights for all. Strong action words like “endeavor” create an optimistic tone and the mood that with only a bit more work, freedom and equality can be achieved. The discouraged African Americans must continue to hope because if they only keep fighting, their situation will improve. Green uses the phrase “take up the sword” to show that he understands fighting for equality might be like a double-edged sword. While fighting risks their safety and has caused