Marxist Criticism In Sojourner Truth's Ain T I A Woman

In the early 1820’s, female writers elevated the family role of middle class women into a cult of domesticity. Somewhat paradoxically, around the same time, the participation of thousands of women in antislavery and moral reform work led to organized movements for women’s rights. At the Women’s Rights Convention in 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered a powerful speech named “Ain’t I A Woman.” Sojourner Truth was a pioneer feminist who created an unintentional psychoanalytic approach and a premeditated Marxist criticism approach for “Ain’t I a Woman” in order to emotionally appeal to the audience and earn equal rights for all women.

Sojourner Truth used a psychoanalytic approach which naturally stemmed from her years of enslavement. Her upbringing

The revolutionary explanation of the Marxist criticism theory is strongly presented in her speech. She began by stating two of the most obvious issues at that time. She approached the issues of the abolitionist movement in the South and the beginning of the women’s rights movement in the North by saying, “twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North.” Sojourner Truth was indirectly involved with both movements, but wondered why the color of her skin determines to which extent she is a woman. She brilliantly defended the need for each movement by using the other movement as an example of why it is needed to begin with. The establishment of conflict between the social classes labelled the approaching revolution. Sojourner Truth had the point of view of an African American woman. She noticed that fighting for equal rights of women translated to fighting for the equal rights of white women, therefore needing to rectify the needs of the abolitionists’ movement. She delivered this speech against all odds. During the duration of her speech, she used an anaphora to exaggerate the extent to which she believed she was still a woman even though she was black and that she should be treated as such. Sojourner Truth quadrupled the amount of times she asked the question “Ain’t I a woman?” each time reeling the audience in, instilling it onto them, causing them to believe it more each time. This allowed Sojourner Truth to gain a sense of