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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ure By Maria W. Stewart

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ure by Maria W. Stewart she used various rhetorical devices such as personification, similes, and irony. Her use of these techniques aid her in convincing the audience that the black community is being treated poorly. She used personification and similes to create an image for the audience that makes the topic more relatable, this technique is used because the situation is foreign to the audience. While the similes, and personification create an image the use of irony drives the message home and has a large impact on the public. These rhetorical devices are used in tandem to create a solid and coherent argument. The excerpt uses similes to create an image in the mind of the audience and make the topic more relatable. Stewart used similes periodically to illustrate the life of a black person in the 19th century, one example was “the ideas become confined, the mind barren, and, like the scorching sands of Arabia, produce nothing,” (line 40) This quote allows the reader to understand that when the African- American community is forced to perform mindless labor for years they begin to lack the ability to think for themselves and have profound thoughts. The comparison to something so large and extreme as an arabian desert forces the audience to understand the importance of …show more content…

The excerpt began with her speaking about the way that blacks are oppressed and kept from becoming successful, one way to cement this idea is by using personification. While speaking about the hardships of being an African-American she said “I would gladly hail death as a welcome messenger.” (line seven) This example of personification gives death human-like traits by making it a messenger, this illustrates their struggle by allowing death to appear as a physical being that is welcomed. The use of personification recreates the concept of death as a being to make a powerful statement to the

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