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Rewrite of Rhetorical analysis

(AA)

John Zhang

Department of English Bakersfield Christian High School

11AP: Junior language and composition

Mrs.Breanna Dalomba

2023.12.10
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As the wife of the future president of the United States and the diplomat of the United

States, with the ignorance of his son becoming the future president, Abigail Adams set high

expectations for her son John Quincy Adams. While he is on the way to France, his mom

employs allusion and appeal of ethos in the letter to advise her son the necessity of experiencing

adversities and growing stronger on the voyage to France.

Adam began with an allusion to clarify the importance of facing and experiencing

difficulties. For instance, Adam used the example of how the historic character Cicero became a

powerful orator. He was "roused, kindled, and inflamed by the tyranny(4)" and eventually

transformed into a "great character (4)". The three consecutive verbs in the allusion form the

paralleling structure, building up the emotive and vivid tone. “Roused”,the choice of this word

suggests that adversity has the ability to awaken dormant qualities and virtues within an

individual. It implies a call to her son to engage actively with the difficulties he may encounter

during his travels.The term "kindled" carries a strong visual and emotional connotation. In the

context of Cicero, "kindled" implies that the challenges faced by historical figures acted as

catalysts, sparking a fire within them. Adams uses this word to convey that, just as a fire is

kindled, her son's intellectual and moral qualities can be ignited by engaging with the

complexities of life.The word "inflamed" intensifies the emotional impact of the passage even

more. Adams employs this term to convey that the challenges faced by historical figures were

not just sparks but intense catalysts that evoked powerful responses. The choice of "inflamed"

adds more weight to the emotion of the idea that significant virtues and qualities are born out of

the most challenging circumstances. As the audience reads through the letter from his mom, John

would awoke his passion and confidence dormant in his heart by them. In addition, the allusion
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emphasizes how necessary "contending hardship(4)" is because that is what Cicero did to have a

"vigorous mind(4)". Though the context of traveling to France was tough for John, he contended

it would advance him eventually. Those two phrases brought a positive mood to the reader by

linking achievement to engaging the struggles. Therefore, the tone and the mood in the allusion

would strongly advise John to confront hardship bravely.

Then, Adam finished with the appeal of ethos to evoke emotional responses. At first,

Adams refers to herself as the "instructive eye of a tender parent(3)" highlighting the guidance

and support provided by herself and John Adams. This reference suggests that John Quincy had

been under the care of his experienced parent, creating a tone of safety and ease. So he would

realize his parent always helped him and there should be no exception to follow them this time.

It foreshadows the moral obligation with the appeal of emotion in the following paragraphs. “

render your parents happy, particularly your affectionate mother(6)”The quote visualizes a

fulfilling and joyful family life. This conveyed a motivational tone to encourage John Quincy to

take actions that would bring joy to his parents. Thus, by linking John Quincy's actions to the

happiness of his parents, an obligation appeared naturally. If the audience didn't take the advice

in the letter, he would violate this invisible obligation and not be moral . Because as a son, he

should be naturally filial to the parent who always protects him and shouldn't disappoint them.

All of this would force John Quincy to be compliant with his mom Abigail to experience the

dilemma on the trip because of the strong emotional appeal to him, or John would feel guilty.

Adam had high expectations, passion, and love for her son's growth. She showed great

care and advised him, helping his way of advancement. She is a model of mothers, who show

very detailed care to their children and hope they could be predominant in the future by

experiencing hardship when they are young, instead of in the time when they grew up.
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