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How Does Abigail Adams Use Of Figurative Language In My Dear Son

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In Abigail Adams’ letter, written in 1780, she writes to her son, John Quincy Adams, to give him advice. She shows concern for him through her loving, motherly diction. Abigail wants her son to have a safe and fulfilling voyage. She also hopes that he is able to honor his country and it’s citizens. In order to bring her claim across, she uses different appeals, rhetorical devices, and figurative language. The letter is opened by the greeting, “My Dear Son”. Using the word “my” signifies possession and creates an emotional attachment to her son. An emotional appeal is used throughout the first paragraph. Also, it is instantly seen that she uses a proper, but loving, tone. The way she writes shows that they are in a high social class. In the second paragraph she starts with a knowledgeable appeal when she writes, “Your knowledge of the language must give you greater advantages now than you could possibly have reaped whilst …show more content…

It is a shift from claim to evidence. The author uses a metaphor comparing a judicious traveler to a river. Imagery is used when she writes, “Some author, that I have met with, compares a judicious traveler to a river, that increases its stream the further it flows from its source; or to certain springs, which, running through rich veins of minerals, improve their qualities as they pass along”. The meaning behind the metaphor is that the voyage will bring her son experiences that will help him ameliorate into the model leader she hopes he will become. In the next paragraph she compares her son to geniuses of the past by use of historical allusions. This is to appeal to patriotism and compare him to the previous guile leaders. When she writes, “All history will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure” she wants him to use history as an inspiration and outline on what to

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