Friday, June 20, 2014

What rhetorical questions and repetition does Sojourner Truth use in "Ain't a Woman?" and give examplesSojourner Truth's "Ain't a Woman?"

Sojourner Truth, a slave freed in 1827 delivered this
extemporaneous speech at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohion, held in 1851. 
Interestingly, at the time that Truth gave her speech, it had no title and did not
repotedly have the question "Ain't I woman?" in it once.  The original speech was
recorded after the convention which was attended mainly by abolitionists.  Marius
Robinson, an abolitionist himself and a newspaper editor recorded the words of Sojourner
Truth; however, in 1881, the speech given was retold by Frances Gage.  The insertion of
the rhetorical question "ain't I woman?" and the editing of Truth's words to include
more speech characteristics of Southern slaves was also added.  This version has now
become the historical standard.


So, in Gage's edition of
Sojourner Truth's speech, the rhetorical question "ain't I woman?" is often repeated to
add effect.  In addition to this question, there are others that demand no
answer either, such as "But shat's all this here talking about?" and "What's that got to
do with women's rights or negroes' rights?" as well as "Where did your Christ come
from?" 

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