Savannah Kolterman
10:30, English 248
Professor Bleck
May 30, 2010
Sojourner Truth
Until fairly recently women have not always been the type to stand up for what they believe in, or even what they deserve. Among some of the first of abolitionist women was Sojourner Truth. Sojourner was formerly Isabella Baumfree, but changed her name in 1843. She was born into a large family in New York and had a hard childhood full of pain and grief due to the harshness of slavery. But this life turned Sojourner into who she was and she became a great influence among men and women. She was so inspiring to me I found another article about her to try to explain why she is so influential. The article I found was about Truth and the Aristotelian way called “Sojourner Truth: Aristotelian Orator” by Angela Berrios. She saw Truth’s speeches as “ingenious” and shows how Truth showed ethos, logos, and pathos in her speeches to win over everyone she could. I never saw this when I was reading Truth’s speeches but now I notice how her words do fit this Aristotelian critique and it made me read her declarations in a different light.
To introduce the main subject of her essay, Angela Berrios starts her essay off with a brief description of Sojourner’s education, stature, and demeanor. Berrios mentions how Truth’s “Ar’n’t I woman?” speech shows typical Aristotelian style when doing rhetorical criticism. Then she explains what this “Aristotelian style” consists of: ethos, logos, and pathos. Berrios elucidates ethos as being the “credibility of the speaker”, logos as “logical proofs”, and pathos as the “affect” (Berrios 93). Then to show where she got this knowledge of Aristotelian critique she talks about Forbes Hill and Browne and their version of an Aristotelian speech/writing and what she took from their views and put into place while critiquing Truth’s speech. Another thing Berrios adds is a piece about the source of the document she is critiquing. She explains the true source to be Mrs. Frances Gage who wrote down Truth’s words because Truth was illiterate and did not write down or prepare her speeches anywhere but in her mind. Berrios mentions Mrs. Gage talking about Truth and how she would sit in front of the stage and listen to the other speakers and her speech would just be a response to what they all said. Therefore, Berrios would be quoting Gage’s documents and notes that it might not be the exact speech but very similar.
The next section in Berrios writing was titled “Rhetorical Situation”. Here she talks about how 1851 was full of hate against blacks and women and that was when Sojourner got out of Massachusetts and started to give lectures along with other people fighting for good causes. During this time there was a big fight about women’s suffrage and Berrios refers it to being “raging” (Berrios 95). Because of this, people who spoke out put themselves and others like them in harm’s way. Women who spoke out were often “unpopular and unsafe” (Berrios 95). People would go as far as threatening Sojourner’s dignity and even her life because of what she stood for. So Berrios is laying out the scenery of what Sojourner was up against and then introduces her next topic, “Exigence”. This section explained the crowd’s reaction to Truth and what usually happened in these gatherings. She describes the presence of Truth in the stage as an “unsettling thing” because she was tall, black, a women, and confident. People showed fear and hate when she would walk into the auditorium. Then when Berrios describes the setting of this gathering in Akron, Ohio she says the men would boo their own wives, daughters, or mothers and would obnoxiously applaud anyone who spoke against their cause. They were like the loud-mouths at every sporting event that you just want to go up to and say, “Seriously, shut up.” Another thing that Berrios says was common at this event were biblical proofs. In many readings there have been biblical points thrown in wherever they support the authors point and it was no different during these speeches. Men were using the Bible to prove women’s inferiority and give “an attack on womanhood itself” (Berrios 96). Then it was Truth’s turn to speak and she quietly rose and asked Mrs. Gage for permission to speak. Berrios describes the hissing of the crowd from all their disgust and hatred but Truth commanded attention by her words. Then using the “Socratic method” Truth demoralized every dispute that had been made about women that day and gave her point of view on things at the same time. This is where the ethos, logos, and pathos came into play.
The first method acknowledged by Berrios was ethos. Like previously mentioned, ethos was about the credibility of the speaker and Truth had close to none. She had “little social power, and no economic power”, along with being illiterate (Berrios 97). She didn’t speak properly, she wasn’t a small fragile woman, and she wasn’t educated, all of which an intelligent woman orator was “supposed to be” (Berrios 97). Although she lacked in those departments she definitely did not lack in experience. Being a slave and a woman she had seen a lot in life which gave her a fair reason to talk about it and be trusted. Berrios gives an example of how Truth proves her physical and emotional strength that is comparative to a man’s which gives her credibility.
The next method mentioned was logos. This was the logical reasoning in Truth’s speech. One topic brought up in the Akron discussion was intellectual capacity of women. Truth knew she couldn’t face this head on because it was so heavily engrained into everyone’s minds she kind of “accepts” this belief and uses it against the men. Berrios talks about how Truth is asking what harm could be done if these girls with “incapacity for intellectual endeavors” being allowed a vote (Berrios 99). Another thing that could be seen as logic is the way Truth discredits the men’s arguments while pushing her own and “picks her battle[s]” (Berrios 101). Berrios didn’t think this was all by chance but that Truth knew how to work the audience.
The last method discussed was pathos. This is the affective use of emotions to get them on your side. Berrios said Truth’s method of using her own emotions and playing off other people’s passions she made her speeches stick in everyone’s memory. One way Berrios shows Truth using pathos was her challenging “religious strongholds” (Berrios 100). In her speech Truth said, “Whar did your Christ come from? From God and woman” to disprove every use of the Bible to support a man’s point (Gates & McKay qtd. in Berrios 101). After saying this Truth talks about how women can be blamed for all sin in the world because of Eve but then elaborates on how women should have a chance to fix this and Berrios calls it a “psychological cry for justice” (Berrios 101). Religion is a touchy subject that really hits home with people and can strike some inner feelings. These inner feelings are what Berrios says Truth is playing on for ethos.
The last subject touched is the effect Sojourner had. Berrios says that the “immediate effect” of Truth’s speeches were obvious but she also left an “enduring influence” (Berrios 101). Truth was a very influential woman. People hated her, loved her, and feared her. Berrios, wrapping up her point, says that Truth shows “rationality, simplicity and clarity of style” and makes good decisions with her audience and setting in mind. With that said, Berrios says that these points prove that Truth used the Aristotelian method and conveyed her message charmingly.
My first reaction to this text was wow; I never would have noticed that if I read the speech a million times. But after researching what the Aristotelian method was it fits right in to place. One can always look at someone’s words differently if you know the true intention. This article made me think that maybe me perception of Truth wasn’t really who she was.
I thought Truth was a poor slave with strong opinions who probably wasn’t very book- smart because she was illiterate and had no education. Although I doubt Truth was trying to give speeches with this method they do fit into the Aristotelian category. After reading this article I started to see how Truth could really work the crowd. Once you invalidate the previous speaker’s opinion yours instantly looks better, and I think Truth knew this. Putting down someone else’s view and pushing your own is almost like killing two birds with one stone. Truth’s way of speaking may have been her own method. Many people at those conventions got up on stage and stated their own view while Truth’s speeches were more of a response to what everyone else had already said. Method or not I think it worked.
Another thing I learned from this article is how to pick out ethos, logos, and pathos in everyday life. Everywhere you go there are ads, whether they’re in a magazine, on a billboard, or on television they’re all trying to catch your attention. Ethos, logos, and pathos are at the base of the Aristotelian method according to Berrios and they are three very good ways to catch attention. The ads you see on television for the starving children in Africa are all about playing on your emotions, or pathos. They also use some logos because they want it to seem like the logical decision to pay on 59 cents a day to keep a child from starving. Or any ad for medicine, toothpaste, gum, things like that, include ethos. In all of those ads there is always someone in a lab coat to seem like they have credibility. So you could almost use this article as a warning, to look past the stereotypical ethos, logos, and pathos to find the real meat of the ad.
Overall I really liked this text. It definitely brought up something that I didn’t see and now when I read things it would be smart to look at what methods the author is using to try to deduct the real goal they’re trying to achieve. Although Berrios has showed Truth’s “method” she still refers to her as “rhetorical genius” and I would have to agree (Berrios 102). Truth is an inspiring woman and people of every race or gender should follow in her footsteps and fight for what they believe in. Whether she meant to be an Aristotelian orator or not she is still a great speaker.

Work Cited
Berrios, Angela. "Sojourner Truth: Aristotelian Orator." ProQuest. Web. 29 May 2010.