Abigail Adams Essay

In 1780 Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her son John Quincy Adams, who was traveling abroad with his father John Adams, who at the time was a United States diplomat. Abigail Adams wrote the letter to his son John Quincy Adams for the purpose of advising and convincing him. She advises her son to take hold of every opportunity he faced and make the best of it, she also writes to convince him of diligence. Adams employs a motherly concerned tone, historical allusions, as well as metaphors and patriotic appeals.

            Adams uses rhetorical strategies when encouraging her son to be diligent, she does this by flattering him in the beginning of the letter and also by taking advantage of his fondness towards her and appealing to his affection for her in order to convince his son of diligence. Adams wants to make it clear to his son that the purpose of this letter was written with the concern to guide him and advice him, therefore she starts off by making it clear that her primary concern is his safety, and appeals to his emotions so that he will be amenable to her advice. She compliments him in his language skills and then asserts his need for him to keep improving. Abigail also makes reference to a discussion she had with an author, in which she tells her son about a comparison of a judicious traveler. She explains that a judicious traveler is like a river because a river increases its stream the further it flows from its source and a traveler improves their qualities as they encounter hardships. Her reference to the author’s metaphor is intended to convince her son of the importance of the trip that she encouraged him to embark. The purpose of the metaphor is also to give him a sense of assurance that the trip will benefit him. In line 26 Adams again flatters his son by stressing his natural talent but again asserts that he needs to utilize his god given gifts by showing effort. This is a rhetorical strategy that she uses, to make him feel guilty of not taking advantage or acting upon his blessings in hope that he will become more mature and diligent of his actions.

            Adams employs historical allusions when she implies that he is a genius like Cicero, referring to the tyranny of Catiline, Verres, and Mark Anthony that made Cicero so distinguished an orator. The historical allusion legitimizes the point that Abigail makes when she writes that “The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.” The current difficulties that she is refereeing to where those from the American Revolution. She invokes patriotism on him by stating that war, tyranny and desolation are the scourges of the almighty, yet he is an eyewitness of these calamities in his own native country. By this she encourages her son to conduct his life aiding the country from the “scourges of the almighty.” This places great pressure and responsibility on her son because she additionally implies that his dad has taken a large and active share in this content and by ignoring her advice both of his parent’s efforts of educating him with this principles would seems like a waste of time and prove a failure. Once again this shows how she manipulates her son by expressing her strong maternal tone in which she states her hope for him to become more diligent to his country and parents.

            Abigail Adams wrote this letter for the purpose of advising his son at a time of American history chaos. She used rhetorical strategies for a more effective way of conveying her message, most significant which were; ethos, pathos, logos, metaphors, and imaginary. She wrote the letter to her son John Quincy Adams in hope that by her efforts and dedication of constant advises towards him she could secure a better future for her country.