Different Tones in Speech according to Purpose Essay Example
Frederick Douglass’s speech, Ain’t I A woman by Sojourner Truth and A Lincoln are pieces of narratives writings studied in class. The three have many differences and similarities among their purposes, audiences and tones. Ain’t A Woman speech by truth has a very angry tone in it. Truth speaks her mind about women. She is against the oppression of women in the society. She is not happy on the way Black women are treated in the society. “Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman!”. This statement shows how Truth is feeling angry and frustrated by the society. She is against the oppression of Black women in the society and how they are denied their rights.
In her speech, Sojourner speaks her mind and rev
...eals that she has never enjoyed her rights. Using very different tone, Fredrick Douglas, A Lincoln and Sojourner all talks about being slaves, which is a similarity. In her narrative, Douglass uses a calmer tone than Truth. Douglas narrative is like a story since he writes about his life. Though Douglas tone is a calm one, he also applies the appropriate tone according to the nature of his story. For instance, Douglas explains how he broke down one day at three o’clock since he had lost strength to an extent that he suffered chronic headache and extreme dizziness. Douglas lets people know the kind of pain he is undergoing in a calm manner.
Douglas tone builds suspense when he fights Mr. Covey making it sound more like a story. Both Douglass and Lincoln came from very poor families, wer
self-educated and lost their mothers at an early age. To earn a living, they spent their lives in the farms and moved from Free States to Border States. The three used persuasive language and helped to end slavery in America. Currently, the freedom and rights enjoyed by Black men and women in the United States can be attributed to the three narrators. Truth fought advocated for women rights; she wanted them given equal rights with men. Today all women in the United States have rights equal to men’s. They can work, invest in business, enroll for higher education and own properties just like men. This freedom is enjoyed all citizens in the United States regardless of their gender, religion and ethnic differences.
Douglass’s tone builds suspense when he fights Mr. Covey making it sound like a story. Lincoln, Douglas and Truth have different purposes, but their stories were all about slavery and denial of human rights. Douglas wrote him story for his audience to hear and realize that they need to advocate for their rights which are currently exercised in the United States. I think Douglass narrative was meant to educate the people on their rights. I think Douglass wrote the story for people to read about the challenges he faced in his life. On the other hand, I think Truth was informing people of her direct thought. This is still the case today in the United States. Human right activists still informs people about their rights and how the government should protect them.
Sojourner speech was advocated to women. Her audience was white women and men at a women’s convection. Being a Black woman, she was
not happy of what other Black women were going through and, therefore, she decided to fight for their rights. Truth felt that women oppression had to come to an end through justice. There are great variances between the audiences of Truth and Douglass. I think Douglass aim was just to tell his story to all types of people who were willing to read his story; white or black, men or women. On the other hand, Truth audience was the white men and women. She addresses White women when she speaks about men advocating on women getting helped into carriages. Black people were treated differently. Truth talks about white men because they the ones saying women should be denied their rights because Christ was not a female. Douglass’s audience is less emphasized than Truth’s.
Lincoln made a peaceful and optimistic speech during his Second Inaugural Address to express his desire for reconciliation and peaceful co-existence within the Confederate States. Douglass, Truth and Lincoln were able to captivate their audiences’ argumentative methods and compelling actions to gain their support. Lincoln advocated for national unity before, during and after civil war. This was Lincoln’s job as a president and the main reason for the civil war. During the Second World War, Lincoln stated that the South would “make war rather than let the nation survive” and that though he did not like war, he would better accept than let the nation perish. During the war period, Lincoln freed all the slaves in order to weaken the South. Just like Douglass and Truth, Lincoln informed the Americans that the main course of their problems was slavery.
Lincoln also called for reconciliation
between the Southerners and the Northerners. In his speeches, Lincoln encouraged people to live in reconcile, unit and live in harmony. Lincoln remained hopeful and positive about the future just like Douglass. Lincoln constantly gave the Americans hope that peace would prevail one day just like to was the case years before. Today, the United States of America is peaceful and people interact well with each other regardless of their ethnic differences. There are no slaves like it used to be many years ago. Today, Blacks works just like their White counter parts. Compared to a hundred years ago, racism is minimal. The efforts of leaders like Lincoln to bring peace in America are now evident. Lincoln and Douglass were able to positions of leadership although they experienced obstacles and hardships as young men. Truth, Lincoln and Douglass worked for the same purpose despite racial differences. Lincoln and Douglass opposed slavery for the same reasons though in different manner but contributed to ending it at the end.
