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The Great Challenge For Marginalized Writers Essay

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Throughout the semester we have seen how marginalized writers, such as women and people of color, challenge dominant cultural constructions of gender, race, and/or class in colonial America and the U.S. Perhaps these writers challenge our ideas about dominant gender roles or racist assumptions about people that were common at the time. Choose three writers we have studied who occupy this definition of marginalized status and discuss the narrative strategies these writers use to challenge the status quo. For example, how do they address their audience and get readers from dominant culture on their side? What stories do they tell about themselves or the experiences of those in their marginalized group, and how and why are these stories effective in challenging dominant culture?

The greatest challenge for marginalized writers is to evoke sympathy and support from white readers in their narratives. Writers had to persuade the audience towards their viewpoint without appearing too critical of the dominant culture. Additionally, minorities faced another challenge because they had to prove their credibility for writing their stories in the first place. Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Olaudah Equiano relied on prefaces, appeals for morality, and Christianity to establish a connection with their audience. All three writers used ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade the audience towards their perspective. Once they had created a bond with their readers, they used

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