Rhetorical Analysis In the beginning of this letter, and at the star of every paragraph, Benjamin Banneker uses the word "sir". He uses this repetition of the word sir to show that he respects Thomas Jefferson, but also imply what he is saying is urgent.
In the majority of this letter, Benjamin is comparing how the Americans felt enslaved to the British and slavery in the United States. This is a form of pathos because Thomas Jefferson can relate to the feeling of being enslaved. Benjamin Banneker wrote "a time in which you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery" and this was Banneker's way of saying that Thomas Jefferson felt slavery was wrong when it was happening to him so he should feel bad when it is happening again to the African Americans. On line 19 Banneker compliments the Declaration of Independence by saying "true and valuable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages". Banneker is making a point to say that the Declaration of Independence has good ideas of how "all men are created equal" but there is a flaw because the white men are obviously not treating everyone equally. In the third paragraph, Banneker makes a reference to the "Father of Mankind" (God) because at that time period religion was a large part of everyones lives. He implies that they are going against god when they participate in owning slaves. Banneker uses words such as "Fraud", "violence", "Groaning captivity", and "cruel oppression" to further explain how brutal slavery is. He also makes an allusion to Job from the bible, again relating to the religious side of Jefferson. The quote from Job says "put your souls in their souls instead" to suggest Jefferson empathize with the slaves because he was once in that "state of slavery". |
Reflection |
Out of all of the types of essays that we've written in AP English, I always found the Rhetorical Analysis essays to be relieving. All the information is there in front of you, you just have to figure out what it means. I think I did well with being able to understand what the purpose of Banneker's letter was and being able to identify specific diction that had a certain effect. One of the strengths of my essay was that I identified the use of comparison between America being enslaved to the British and the actual slaves in America at that time. This theme carried throughout Banneker's letter and was one of the more prominent techniques used. While writing this essay, I initially had difficulty being able to identify all the techniques that Banneker was using simply because of the time limit. Writing this essay under a time requirement helped me develop my writing skills because it taught me how to think quicker on my feet. Writing this essay under a time requirement also prepared me for the AP exam when there was a Rhetorical analysis essay. At the beginning of the year I found rhetorical analysis essays extremely difficult because I could never figure out what the author was trying to accomplish by using rhetorical techniques, but with time and practice i have continually developed my writing skills so that I can successfully analyze a letter like the one written by Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson on the topic of slavery.
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