Pathos refers to the authors persuasion through emotional appeal. In both of the texts, the use of pathos is very clear. However, in "Ain't I a Woman," by Sojourner Truth it is more prevalent. I believe that Sojourner Truth used more emotional appeal because of her audience. She was talking to a audience majorly composed of women. They would more likely understand and sympathize with her because they have experienced similar treatment. She refers to "mothers grief"and all of her hard work and the pain she has had to endure. The women in the audience are more likely to be receptive to what she is saying and be persuaded by her argument.
On the other hand in "Equal Rights for Women," by Shirley Chisholm the use of pathos is less evident. Chisholm was talking to a group mainly of men trying to advocate for an amendment. It would not be ideal for her to pour her heart out because they may not understand the injustice she has experienced. She has to prove that she is not just emotional but educated as well. Her argument is composed of a lot of facts and statistics. She does point out how frustrating it all is and uses the phrase "happy little homemaker" to show how demeaning it is to not be looked to as much. I believe this was a smart choice by Chisholm and think it helped her argument be more effective.
I've read Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" and it actually left me feeling angry for her. The pure exasperated tone of the text and the passionate exclamations of "And ain't I a woman? Look at me!" as she lists all of the hardships she had to endure alone is heartbreaking. I can understand and share her livid feelings.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though even though Chisholm's audience isn't as susceptible to the display of emotions as would a crowd of people that could relate to her, she is still capable of reaching out to every individual in her audience. I agree that she was very smart in combining facts/evidence to avoid simply pouring out emotion because she did need to display her intellect in order to deliver her speech effectively.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a good analysis of the pathos in the two tests. Chisholm is more logical and less emotional in her text even though she still invoked sympathy from the audience and more emotional in Truth's piece since she was sharing her tiredness and grief with a group of similar people
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