Abigail Adams writes a letter to her son John Quincy Adams, conjugal to John Adams. They are traveling abroad. Adams writes this particular piece because she shows concern for her son, who is far away and composing a letter is the only way to communicate. It is important to Adams that her son has a safe and significant trip because she believes “nothing is wanting with you but attention, diligence, and steady application.” (Adams, 24-26) In the beginning of the letter, Adams explicitly addresses her son. She exhibits proper diction to portray her concerning tone while appealing to her own emotions. By starting off the letter with “I hope you have had no occasion,” (Adams, 1) she lets her son know she is a concerning mother who cares. The way …show more content…
She pauses from explicitly addressing her son to incorporating a comparison someone told her, between a traveler to a river, “that increases its stream the further it flows...improve their qualities as they pass along.” (Adams, 17-20) This creates the importance of her tone sound convincing to her son because she can compare him, for he is a judicious traveler based on her wordly addresses for him. Relating to her adroit son, it is important that she continues to let him know that she is speaking to him because of the repetition of “my son” throughout the letter. “It will be expected of you, my son,” (Adams, 21) and “Yet it is your lot, my son,” (Adams, 43) explicitly address him, doing this because she has expectations that his mature self and his trip are great. The emphasis lets him know that what she is expressing is to be focused on. Furthermore, concomitant to her expectations, she realizes there are conflicts within society, such as “war, tyranny, and desolation,” which “are the scourges of the almighty.” (Adams, 41-42) By using a metaphor to describe these conflicts as punishments for powerful people, like her son, she highlights her tone and appeals to her sons qualities. Her son is capable of a superior livelihood and she wants him to know
Following the death of Mr. Lincoln, one of the toughest things to deal with her son Tad pleads with her not to cry, because if he were to hear his mom crying he also would cry and break his heart. Mrs. Lincoln then calmed herself and hugged held her child (Keckley 183-84). Mrs. Lincoln in the time that she was suppose to be getting consoled put her son first, stopped crying, and put his needs before her own.
This letter is a fine example of Abigail Adams' strong feminist and strong federalist views. These letters represented the turmoil felt by women during the uncertain times facing the colonies. The views of Abigail Adams became the first in a long line of cries out for women's equality.
Abigail Adams was a woman of high character and a loving soul. She was selfless in her thinking and remarkable in the way she handled people. Her management skills were above average for the normal female in the 1700s. She held many worldly interests that tied her to the political fashion of society. She was well cultured and was able to apply this to her role of a politician’s wife with great attributes towards society. She became the “buffer” with regard to her husband's temper and lack of diplomacy. She participated in many political activities. Her independent thinking, character, faithfulness, and hard work gave her the ability to succeed in society in the 17th century. Even though Abigail Adams was not formerly
On 12 January, 1780, Abigail Adams writes a letter to her son, John Quincy Adams, who is traveling to France with his father. She encourages her son to take advantage of his travela and use his skills and knowledge to help better himself and experience growth. Throughout her letter, Adams uses ethos, allusion, pathos, and other rhetorical devices to encourage her son John to continue traveling.
In Abigail Adams letter to her son: letter to John Quincy Adams, she uses many rhetorical devices to convey her feeling towards him as he leaves with his dad. She uses pathos as a way to project her feelings as a concerning strict mother toward Quincy telling him to use caution during the trip, hoping great things for him. She uses logos to explain to him that he must be grateful and use this advantage that has been given from his father that others don't get, to learn and grow from. Her tone in this letter to her son is advising and loving mother hoping he'll learn from this great experience and doesn't miss out on this opportunity.
In the persuasive letter written by Abigail Adams to her son, John Quincy Adams, A. Adams uses the rhetorical strategies of emotional appeal and logic. John Quincy Adams and his father, “a United States diplomat and later the second president” of the United States, were traveling abroad. During that time A. Adams sent a letter to her son, she encouraged her son to take full advantage of the opportunity of the “voyage.” She wanted him to use his own knowledge and skills to gain experience and wisdom to grow into the man he will be in the future, a leader. A. Adams supports her position by using analogies, allusions, a nurturing and guiding tone, and an abstract word choice. These appeals are used to reassure her son of her love and affection, to convince him of his great attributes and potential for the future, and to initiate his patriotic responsibility.
Letter to John Adams from Abigail Adams and Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams
Adams wants her son to make her proud, and by voicing this to her son, she is targeting his emotions. To achieve her purpose, she aims to make him feel as though he has to make her proud or he will be failing
Throughout Adams’ letter, she persuades her son by appealing to pathos in order to demonstrate how highly she thinks of her son. Clarifying, “Nothing is wanting with you but attention, diligence, and steady application,” Adams reassures that she is not trying to change her son, or turn him into a hero, but for him to gain experience and become a well-rounded person. Adams also acknowledges her sons disinterest in the voyage, “If I had thought your reluctance arose from proper deliberation or that you were
As members of Congress drafted laws to guarantee the independence for which the colonies were fighting, Abigail wrote to John begging him to remember that women also needed to be given the right to independence. Her most famous letter about the need for women's rights was written to John on March 31, 1776:
In the letter to her son, John Quincey Adams (future president of the United States), Abigail Adams implies what she expects of her son to demonstrate the significance of his journey. Her choice of words provides to him the knowledge that he can only become a respectable force. Accordingly, Adams writes “…must give you greater advantages now than you could possibly have reaped whilst ignorant of it” argues that he is now more than he once was and introduces the purpose of her letter. The metaphor
puts her son’s comfort and life above all and swallows her pride. Furthermore, as a woman of the
People tend to say mothers have a “sixth sense,” a sense where they can easily discern between what is right and wrong for their children. Abigail Adams capitalizes on this “six sense” in order to get her son to follow her advice and do what is best for him. Abigail Adams is the wife of John Adams and the mother of John Quincy Adams. Three years before the American Revolution ended, John Adams, a United States diplomat, was assigned to travel to France in 1780 to negotiate an alliance with France. His 12-year-old son John Q. Adams also traveled with him. Before their departure, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her son that was meant to guide him throughout his voyage. In her letter, Abigail Adams urges her son to take advantage of his unique
In the letter Adams responds to her new surrounding by writing to her daughter about every little detail she can see. This is because her daughter isn't with her so she has to write everything down to send to her in a letter. A question that I had was why wasn't her daughter with her in the first place? Was there a reason the family didn't just come to Washington D.C. all together? Something that was weird for me was Adams tells her daughter that she has to keep everything she was just told a secret from everybody. I thought this was weird because why would Adams not want her daughter telling everyone about the White House and things about it and about Maryland and Virginia? Another thing Adams tells her daughter is she talks about the views
In the novel, Abigail Adams: A Revolutionary American Woman, Charles Akers portrays the life of a strong, revolutionary woman named Abigail Adams. She was known as the first lady of the United States under John Adams and she played an indirect role in influencing the American Revolution. She is called one of the founders of the country for her revolutionary thinking and her being a rights activist.