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Timed Rhetorical Analysis – Banneker Samples
How to Use Tone Review:
- Based on your close reading of the text, decide the tone
Contemptuous
- Choose a sentence or two that communicates the tone
“How pitiable it is to reflect that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies…”
- Recall the definition of the tone word and think of synonyms
Contemptuous: expressing disdain, or scorn, or intense disgust
- Use the words from the definition/synonyms to explain how the sentence (that you have chosen in step 2) either advances the assertion and/or affects the audience and connects to the purpose.
Banneker expresses intense disgust for the hypocrisy inherent in the actions of the founding fathers that establish the country on the idea that God creates all men as equal yet allow for the enslavement of African Americans that cruelly deprives them of such basic rights and freedoms.
How to Use Diction Review
- Choose a word that you want to focus on
Pitiable
- Choose a synonym and state that the word “suggests” or “connotes” the synonym
Wretched, disgraceful
- Use the definition and techniques of logic or rhetoric along with the synonym to explain how the sentence affects the argument and/or audience and advances the purpose
Banneker posits the wretched allowance of slavery by the founding fathers as “pitiable” since they so clearly and disgracefully contradict the values of liberty and equality they found the country upon and argue for when they themselves were in a position of servitude.
Sample Banneker Essay Outline
*The prompt says the passage is from a letter specifically addressed to Jefferson and Washington. Use these specifics in your essay (think about the rhetorical triangle we studied at the beginning of the year). The fact that Banneker is a son of former slaves significantly adjusts the way you should read the letter. Do not refer to the passage or audience incorrectly.
Purpose of Section 1: reminder of when U.S. suffered under British tyranny and the eventual procurement of liberty
Quote 1: “Sir, suffer me to recall to your mind that time in which the arms and tyranny of the British Crown were exerted with every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a State of Servitude.”
Comparison between British tyranny and slavery
Founding fathers well acquainted with frustration and cruelty of oppression
They fought for the elimination of British tyranny Banneker fights for the elimination of slavery
Quote 2: “We hold these truths to be self evidence, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Allusion to Declaration of Independence, a document that ensures the rights of all citizens
God creates all men equal and endows them with unalienable rights supports Banneker’s call for the eradication of slavery – a system that deprives African Americans of such rights and freedoms
Purpose of Section 2: criticize hypocrisy of founding fathers who value liberty, but enslave African Americans
Superquote: “How pitiable is it to reflect that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression.”
Focus #1: Contemptuous tone calls out hypocrisy of founding fathers
Focus #2: Parallel between British tyranny and slavery, insults founding fathers as blasphemous by taking away rights of men that were given to them by God
Purpose of Section 3: apply ideas of liberty to slavery and reconsider issue to abolish it
Quote 1: “put your souls in their souls stead”
Religious allusion to Job, moral way to proceed is to think of the suffering of others and act accordingly
Quote 2: “thus you shall need neither the direction of myself or others, in what manner to proceed herein”
After considering the moral request to think of the suffering of others, it becomes clear that there is only one subsequent action to take that is so obvious nobody needs to state it.
Sample Banneker Essay
Despite the fact that the United States is founded upon the liberty of all citizens, oppression and injustice is an insidious part of the country’s history. Perhaps the most prominent example of injustice includes centuries of African American slavery and the subsequent Civil Rights struggle to overthrow the constraints of oppression. Benjamin Banneker, son of former slaves, astronomer, mathematician and author, was one individual who took a stand in the fight to eradicate slavery. In his letter to founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, Banneker harkens back to when the U.S. suffered under the tyranny of the British to argue against the cruel enslavement of African Americans.
Banneker begins his letter with a reminder that the United States formerly suffered a tyranny similar to slavery under British rule. In order to draw a comparison between the situation African Americans endure and that of the once oppressed colonists, Banneker argues: “Sir, suffer me to recall to your mind that time in which the arms and tyranny of the British Crown were exerted with every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a State of Servitude.” Banneker points out that the founding fathers once struggled with the “powerful” weight of “servitude” and know the feeling of being reduced to a life without freedom. With the frustration and suffering of the rest of the colonists, the founding fathers had clear insight into the injustice and horridness of the state of slavery; Banneker expounds upon this memory to accentuate the cruelty of oppression and call for it to be eliminated in it’s present state. Not only does Banneker establish a parallel between British tyranny and slavery, he also references the freedom the United States so dearly values as a result. Banneker alludes to the equality provisioned by the Declaration of Independence when he cites: “We hold these truths to be self evidence, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” After overthrowing the grip of British tyranny, the founding fathers create the country on the ideals that “all men are created equal” and have “unalienable rights” such as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” God, the creator of “men” provides such rights and other humans do not have the ability to take them away from other men. The fact that the founding fathers themselves detail such rights in the founding documents of the country lend credence to Banneker’s proposition to exterminate slavery, a system that deprives African Americans of basic freedoms.
After Banneker reminds Jefferson of the tyrannical British oppression, he continues to directly indict the hypocritical actions of the colonial leaders. The significant shift to such a contemptuous tone toward Jefferson is shocking; however, his defense justifies the accusations when he decries: “How pitiable is it to reflect that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression.” Banneker expresses intense disgust for the hypocrisy inherent in the actions of the founding fathers that establish the country on the idea that God creates all men as equal yet allow for the enslavement of African Americans that cruelly deprives them of such basic rights and freedoms. Banneker intentionally parallels the actions of the “violence” of slavery with the years of violent British oppression. Jefferson, more than anyone understands the horror of “oppression,” and Banneker knows the similarity to slavery establishes the hypocrisy that cannot be denied.To buttress his attack, he intentionally accuses Jefferson of insulting God. Having earlier established that freedom is a gift from God, Banneker further intentionally denounces the actions of the founding fathers as blasphemous because they themselves claim that freedom was “endowed by their creator.”
With the hypocrisy and oppression of slavery well-established, Banneker concludes his letter by asking that Jefferson and Washington find it in their hearts to apply their coveted values of liberty to the situation of African Americans and abolish slavery. Banneker calls upon a religious reference to ask the founding fathers to put themselves in African American shoes: “As Job proposed to his friends, ‘put your souls in their souls stead.’” By alluding to Job from the Bible, a righteous man who endures much suffering, Banneker plays on the religious and moral ideals of Jefferson and Washington. He requests that given both their intimate knowledge of the state of servitude and their values of liberty, they put themselves in the position of African Americans and act to eliminate the captivity that darkens the country. Banneker compounds on his request that the founding fathers identify with the well-known plight of the African Americans when he urges Jefferson and Washington to do what they know to be right and abolish slavery: “thus shall you need neither the direction of myself or others, in what manner to proceed herein.” Banneker is confident that once the founding fathers pay heed to the moral request to think of the suffering of others, there is no other course of action to take besides coming to the clear, obvious conclusion that slavery is wicked. In fact the conclusion is so readily apparent Banneker does not even need to reiterate it; he simply illuminates that the direction of himself or others is not necessary to right the palpable and hypocritical wrong of the existence of slavery.