Rhetorical Analysis Of Mary Ann Shadd Cary

In the mid-1800's during the era of anti-slavery, an African American abolitionist, writer, publisher, educator, and lawyer, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, manages to utilize many techniques in her writing. In "Why Establish This Paper", Cary uses these techniques as a form of persuasion towards her audience. Mary Ann Shadd Cary uses persuasion to emphasize her purpose, which is to show the importance of the newspaper she published for, Provincial Freeman. The author uses great techniques such as ethos, logos, and pathos. She also uses diction and certain details.

The author starts off the passage with a great use of ethos during the first line, the author states, "We need an organ, too, for making our voice heard at home". In this line, Mary …show more content…
She uses this technique as a way to appeal to her audience with reason. One of the important uses of logos occurs during the second paragraph as the author states, " Because, it is due to our constitution and Government, that we should train ourselves so as to fit us for the discharge of the duties of freemen". She is trying to explain through this use of logos that even though the people might have "rights" that protect us, in a way they are not truly "freemen". The ethos in this passage is also found the credibility one can find from her. As mentioned before, the author was a lawyer, educator, publicists, and many other things that prove to the reader that she is indeed educated enough to talk about the subject.

The author's diction, or just overall choice of words, is quite of an important factor in this story. Throughout the whole passage, Mary Ann Shadd Cary has a repetition of the pronouns "we", "our", and "us". The author does this so the reader gets the sense of feeling united. That way the reader does not only feel united with her but with others who might be experiencing the same problems. If the author decided to use the words, " you" or "I", the reader would no longer get the unified sensation and persuasion …show more content…
An example of these details can be found at the beginning of the third paragraph. The author comments, "The either pass us by, in cold contempt, ignore us altogether, keep themselves or their readers, or both, ignorant of what Canada is," with this detail the author is capable of demonstrating that the U.S did not bother to care about the fugitive community (or just color people in general) and failed to even educate themselves or their readers on the subject. They chose to leave these people kind of in the "dark" as if was for their own convenience. The author once again proves the ignorance of the people to the readers then includes her statement when she says, "And one of the reasons was the Editor knew next to nothing about Canada. We fear that the other Editors in the State will be of as little service to us as the gentleman then was". Not only does she prove to the reader the ignorance of the other editors but shows that a color person should indeed be one of the publishers as they are more educated on the subject. They will be able to demonstrate their intelligence, outlook, and opinions on the subject that the other editors may not be able to do. Also, the author uses personification in of her details, she does this when saying, "As the great country grows, we grow with it". This allows the reader to agree and relates more to her statement/

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