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Rhetorical Analysis Of Abigail Adams

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Abigail Adams is the wife of the second president of the United States of America and the mother to the sixth President of the United States of America, John Quincy Adams. She and her family are living in important times in American history and she has a very clear understanding of that. When she writes to her son, John Quincy Adams, she is trying to impart that message of, pay attention; all of this turbulence and turmoil is going to shape you even if you don’t know it yet. Mrs. Adams uses the rhetorical devices tone, appeal to logic, and imagery, to impart this message to her son. Adams’ tone is very evident in the letter to her son, her tone is authoritative. She is not scolding her son in her letter, but it is not a speaking lightly. This is shown in the first paragraph of Adams’ letter, particularly lines three through eight. “If I had thought your reluctance arose from proper deliberation, or that you were capable of judging what was for your own benefit, I should not have urged you to accompany your father and brother when you appeared so averse to the voyage”. Adams is basically saying, if I thought you actually had a reason not to go and that you were mature enough to decide, I would not have made you go. Her tone is similarly shown in lines twenty-one through twenty-six, when she discusses how her son only needs to apply himself and given his other advantages in life, he will do well. Adams’ authoritative tone makes her message effective because she is

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