Marcus Butts
AP Lang.
2/27/17
Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her son John Quincy Adams, who is traveling abroad with his father, John Adams, a United States diplomat and later the country’s second president. In the letter, Abigail uses many rhetorical strategies including repitition, anaphora, and a metaphor. The purpose of the letter is to advise her son that he should be careful about his actions.
One of the first rhetorical strategies i boycotted was repitition. A couple of times, through out the letter, she repeats the two words “my son.” While reading this letter I assumed that she used repetition on these two words to remind him of her role in his life. In life, your mother is always someone you obey and listen to, so her advice to John was taken very seriously.
As i read through this passage, another rhetorical strategy I found was an anaphora, which is the repetition of a word or a phrase. I think that Abigail specifically put emphasis on the words “I” and “you”. Her motive behind the repetition of these words was to show that he is the person who has to make careful choices. This letter was made so she could deliver advice to her son.
The final rhetorical strategy i was able tk spot was a metaphor. Abigail uses a metaphor, in the third paragraph, that she heard from an author. The metaphor compared a “judicious traveler to a river, that increases its stream the further it flows from its source.” I can only imagine that after John Quincy Adams reads this metaphor he knew exactly whaf is mother was talking about.
In this letter, Abigail Adams uses alot of rhetorical strategies to deliver advice to her son, John Quincy Adams. He is traveling the sea with his dad and is probably in need of some assistance. John is more prone to listen to his mother and he will take everything she says seriously, which makes more sense for this letter to come from her. She enhanced the situation by writing this letter to her son.
Marcus Butts 