Introduction
It is important to note that slavery remains to be a major historical stain in the United States’ past. Sojourner Truth was a women’s rights activist and abolitionist who gave the speech titled “Ain’t I a Woman?” It can be considered among the shortest yet most powerful speeches in history delivered at a period where both African Americans and women were deemed as inferior groups. The literary analysis of Sojourner Truth’s statements reveals that there is no basis to believe that women are weak, less intelligent, and less of a priority for God.
A Woman’s Strength
Firstly, Sojourner Truth addresses the most common sexist argument of her time, which was rooted in the notion that women are weaker and less resilient than men. The patriarchal argument was that women need to be helped in every regard, but the speaker was able to dismantle the hypocrisy. Truth states that “nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!” (par. 4). In other words, she uses the fact that she is an African American woman who suffered a great deal from slavery and labor exploitation. Truth further elaborates: “and ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!” (par. 4). The sexist statements directly fall apart as soon as hypocritical nature of white men’s arguments since such a line of thought was used primarily against white women. However, bringing the racial element to the discussion shows that these privileged men are deceiving both themselves and their female counterparts. The speaker uses facts and reason through logos to address the sexists.
Moreover, Truth uses her experience as a means to dismantle the argument of supposed female weakness by sharing an undeniable truth about the oppression of African American women. The speaker 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 ain’t I a woman?” (Truth par. 4). Sojourner Truth was born into slavery and spent most of her years as a slave, which means that no white man could argue that she did not work in the most despicable of conditions. She was a woman, who was forced to labor without ever enjoying the fruits of her work, and no man could state that he was in a worse position. It is evident Truth deploys the credibility or ethos argument because being a woman slave did not come with the privileges of enduring less suffering or work volume.
Subsequently, Truth completely dismantles the sexists’ argument on womanly weakness by using pathos, which finalizes the first part of the speech making it a strong case on its own. She states: “I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?” (Truth par. 4). No person can deny that there is no greater pain of losing a child let alone several children to be treated in the same fashion as Truth was treated almost her entire life. A mother’s grief is a sincere and deeply saddening emotion that no man can ever experience. Therefore, Truth fully eliminates the argument that women are not as strong mentally, emotionally, and physically as men by appealing to pathos, logos, and ethos.
A Woman’s Intelligence
Secondly, Truth addresses utilize logos to dismantle the strawman argument about intelligence. She states: “Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights?” (Truth par. 5). The statement is exceedingly powerful because it does not allow her to be deceived into the strawman trap of shifting the discussion into a completely unrelated subject. Truth shows the use of wise reasoning approach to address the argument at its root by revealing that the matter is about African American rights and women’s rights, not about intellect. In other words, the speaker is highly conservative about her resources, energy, and time, which is why she does not waste them in pointless debates about intelligence. In addition, she dismantles the entire strawman argument of white men by exposing it as a strawman or irrelevant as it is.
Furthermore, Truth not only shows how unrelated the intellect argument is for the subject but goes along with it and argues about African American rights and women’s rights within these assumptions. The speaker states: “if my cup won’t hold, but a pint and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?” (Truth par. 5). In other words, Truth reveals how the intellect argument fails to hold relevant or true even if she accepts their premises. The complete opposition to giving rights to African Americans and women on the basis of their supposedly superior intelligence conflicts within itself since half as much intellect should grant a similar proportion of rights. This is a demonstration of Truth’s impeccable use of logos against the case, which argues about reasoning and logical capabilities. Therefore, there is an element of irony in the speech, where an ostensibly less intelligent person outsmarts her ‘intellectually superior’ opponents.
God, Women, and Moral High Ground
Thirdly, Truth addresses the final and the most important argument made by racists and sexists of her time. She demonstrates that not only women are equal in the eye of God, but they are even regarded as higher than men. Truth states: “then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from?” (par. 6). The rationale behind the argument about Christ being a man is that this fact gives men the moral high ground and inherent superiority over women. Christian faith is the basis for morality and order for many, which is why Truth’s ability to dismantle the opposition within the realm of religion makes her objection exceptionally powerful. The speaker goes after the central source of ethos and inverts it with logos to showcase that the opponents lack a logical and credible basis to stand against her.
Moreover, Truth uses the moral argument of racists and sexists of her time to expose their inferiority under their own paradigm of assumptions and reasoning. The speaker states: “where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him” (Truth par. 6). She shows that the Son of God and one of three persons of God is created by God and a woman Mary. Thus, Truth reveals that not only is a man a product of the Creator but subservient to a woman by their logic.
In a sense, since God and his person of Christ are worshiped because he is the Creator of a man, so should a woman because she took part in the creation process of Christ. Truth calls for action: “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back” (par. 7). At no point of her speech, does Truth try to debate the racists and sexists of her time confrontationally, but rather uses their assumptions and claims to reveal their own hypocritical nature.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Truth exposes her opponents for what they truly are by showing that women are stronger, smarter, and holier than men in all regards. The speaker uses all three modalities of appeal, such as logos, ethos, and pathos, to expose the hypocrisy behind the arguments made by white men against African American rights and women’s rights movements. Truth utilizes a clever approach, where she avoids arguing about the assumptions made against her but rather uses the assumptions and claims of the racists and sexists. As a result, the hypocrisy and untruthfulness of the opposition are exposed in a short, concise, and plain manner. Therefore, Truth’s statements reveal that there is no basis to believe that women are weak, less intelligent, and less of a priority for the Creator.
Work Cited
Truth, Sojourner. “Ain’t I A Woman?”National Park Service, 1851.