Rousing Pathos And Powerful Diction In John Quincy Adams By Abigail Adams

In the beginning of the year 1780, Abigail Adams writes to her son, John Quincy Adams who was traveling along with his diplomatic father John Adams, in order to advise him about his travels. As she does this, she implements rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, personification, deductive reasoning, and persuasive appeals to strengthen the advice she is giving to her son. In the duration of the letter, she enforces the concept of growth through discovery to John Quincy as she persuades him to follow her maternal instincts to achieve success. Within the first couple of sentences, Abigail Adams uses the emotional appeal, “My Dear Son,” as a method to soften the way in which John Quincy will receive the advice enclosed in the letter.

Can you vision someone who once lived as a penniless, squalid orphan abruptly grow up to become America’s greatest scholar? Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers and a hero of the American Revolution, had to endure living most of his childhood life as an impoverished orphan and dealt with parental death, abandonment, and constant public humiliations. Though he contemplated that his life wouldn’t get any better, he still proceeded to fend for himself with his legacy and accomplished many successes. In spite of his calamitous childhood, Alexander Hamilton’s remarkable resilience helped him overcome those hardships, creating the American nation as it is today.

Abigail Adams’ “Last Act of Defiance” and Benjamin Franklin’s “The Autobiography” were both considered very important for their time and what they worked to accomplish. Abigail Adams’ “Last Act of Defiance” was directed towards the act of married women’s rights and how they were not fair compared with other women and men. Benjamin Franklin’s “The Autobiography” was directed towards using virtues to make yourself and society to gain and accept better morals.

1st Lady, Abigail Adams, in her letter, advises her son, John Quincy Adams, to travel and learn. Adams’ purpose is to urge him to have no regrets and learn from his experiences. She adopts an affectionate tone in order to convince him to live his life to the fullest and take advantage of his opportunities in hope of becoming a great and powerful man.

Finally, Adam achieved the American Dream by being a good husband, father, son, and brother. Adam was a good husband to Kelley. Although he was very busy with his work, he spent every minute he could with his family. He always made sure Kelley knew how much he appreciated everything he did. He took her on dates, and left sweet notes, and did everything that a husband should. Adam was also a good father. When he was home, he spent so much time with Nathan, playing games, and telling stories, and teaching him

He was known as Johnny by his family and was told that he needed to set an example for his siblings. He was the oldest boy and had two brothers and two sisters. He constantly reminded me that he was privileged (Remini, 2002, 2). Boys were taught at a very young age to learn to take charge and be responsible. They have the responsibility of carrying the family name and taking care of the family. Unfortunately, he could never live up to his parents' constant expectations. Adams became an “introverted, self-critical individual.” He also became full of pride and low personal esteem. He later became a very cold, austere, and reserved man. People saw him as a social savage and poorly mannered. (Remini, 2002, 3). All of that pressure and responsibility put on him by his parents growing up, made him the man that he was.At the age of 16, he went to school at Harvard. He spent 4 years and graduated second in his class. He got a degree in law but had no interest in law. He got the degree to satisfy his parents (Remini, 2002,

He coined the term “American dream” in his 1931 book The Epic of America, in which he said his American dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." So what Adams is saying here is that his dream for America is for people to be judged and based off of what they do and no just who they are. When brining in the European upper classes, he really sheds light on the fact that in Europe at the time, people were born into wealth and were classed as such with no real way of change. If you were born poor, you remained poor and lived the lower class lifestyle your whole life. That was not what Adams had in mind for his American Dream, and I agree with his point of view. Who wouldn’t want to live in a country where everyone is born equal and has to

John Adams was born on October 30th, 1735 to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston Adams. He was the oldest of three and lived in Braintree, Massachusetts. His father was a farmer, deacon, and town councilman. The Adams were not very wealthy and John Adams’ father knew he could only send one son and he wanted to send his eldest. However, John Adams told his father “I do not love books and I wish you would lay aside thoughts of sending me to college.” His father in reply asked him- “What would you do child? Be a farmer?” John insisted that he wanted to be a farmer and not a scholar. His father brought him to work the fields the next day. Farming was strenuous work and was most likely rough on John’s hands and back. The night after the long

From the beginning of our nation, a belief in prestige and riches based on merit has been ingrained into American culture. The American revolution showed that success based on talent and effort, instead of birth. James Truslow Adams coined the term “American Dream” in his book, “The Epic of America”, describing it as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”. Though his words perfectly describe the principle that America was developed from, his background shows the hypocrisy of his words. Coming from the influential and wealthy Adam’s family, James Truslow was the epitome of success based on lineage. While he spouted about success gained

The narrator, like any good father, wants his son to live a wonderful life and inherit a legacy of greatness. The quote that stuck out the most to me is this, “Six generations ago my son’s ancestors came here on their way to new lives in the West.” Six generations is a very long time and I believe that the narrator wants his son to realize, at a young age, what his family members did to pursue the American Dream. His ancestors overcame great odds, battled against the wilderness and illness, and even fought against other travelers to live in a land where they would be happy. He wants his son to be like them, by inheriting their legacy of following their dreams, and doing whatever it takes to make them come true. Another quote that I liked is,

Adams was an only child to his parents and his father “molded into his son a direct expression of Emersonian ideals, raised above all to adore nature, the straightest path to the eternal.” He struggled to fit in at school as he “was an odd, hyperactive child” who “grew emotionally unstable and cried easily.” and was eventually homeschooled. The nature loving boy was 14 years old when his family first visited the Yosemite valley

His father was not very involved in his life, which impacted him later on. During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton found a quasi-father figure in George Washington. Because of his poor relationship with his father, Alexander tries to resist this type of relationship, and exhibits some transference behavior, which is to be noted for a psychodynamic approach (Iwamoto, 2016). While instructing him, Washington repeatedly calls him ‘son’, which Alexander repeatedly corrects until finally exclaiming, “CALL ME SON ONE MORE TIME”. This causes issues with his military career, leading to him being sent back home after his outburst. Hamilton’s father’s absence, his mother’s death, and his cousin’s suicide left Alexander alone at an early age, and likely created attachment issues that would follow him the rest of his life (Bowlby, 1978). This led Hamilton to search for acceptance and attention through other means, specifically through writing and his work and his relationships with

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me, “You have your mother’s eyes”, I would hands down be the richest person on earth. Our parents pass on traits such as hair color, height, and eye color, but they also instill traits that reach far beyond our genetic pool. We hear their day to day views on politics and society and begin to form similar values. The American Dream pushes us however, to become an individual -not become a product or replica of our parents. This illusive dream poses to raise a question about the familiar saying, the apple does not fall far from the tree. The American Dream pushes us to roll the apple further- make our own choices and have our own views. If I accept the same views and morals as my parents in life, how far can the apple really fall? In Derrick Harriell’s collection of poems entitled Cotton, readers see the similar values between children and parents or grandparents. Much like Derrick Harriell’s poems, I discovered that many of my views as an individual are no different than those of my mother and father.

1. Adams’s Equity Theory is a model of motivation that explains how people strive for

First, his mother uses the fact that Adams has a good education to explain to him why he should do well in life. She reminds him that his “...knowledge of the language must give [him] greater advantages”. His mom uses a strategy in her argument of intelligence of persuading John Adams. By reminding him of the education he has, she implies that he can use that advantage to make connections in France and abroad, connections that will help in in the future. Adams also mentions that she believes he destined for greatness because he is “...favored with superior advantages under the instructive eye of a tender parent.” Adam's reminds her son of all that she and his dad have invested in him to create a sense of guilt over John to live up to the expectations that they have set for him. He cannot fail in her