As Jimmie Killingsworth says in "Appeals to Time", "time becomes a position of value that authors use to draw audiences to their own position." When reading this quote, I think of how much time passes as Abigail Adams continues to write these letters, and that within itself has meaning. It is not simply the substance in the letters, but how she continues to write over several years through these hardships. I feel that much of her motivation in writing is to seem like a heroin so that John can understand the rights and respect that she deserves. She says on page 316 that "our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances." Time again appeals to her sense of heroism in the sense is that after all of months of adversity, she's still writing.
I feel that the most important part of her story, in fact is the long time that passed between writing. I'm not sure that her letters would have made such history if this had not been true. This is the only real documentation from a women's perspective during the revolution and I am appreciative that it was such an elaborate depiction of the times.
I disagree that Adams is presenting time as a crises. Killingsworth explains the rhetoric of crises as "see[ing]a particular moment in time as a crises point (Killingsworth, 42). He goes on to say that "a decision needs to be made." Rhetoric of crises is progressive. Adams is not trying to move the audience towards "decisive action." Instead Adams is reactive. Adams raises many questions about the progressive movements of the revolution in "Man Is a Dangerous Creature", such as: "If a form of Government is to be established here what one will be assumed (Adams, 316)?" This question along with the following questions in the letter Adams clearly uses Hirschman's "perversity thesis" to make the audience consider wether the revolution will "exacerbate the condition one wishes to remedy (Killingsworth, 48)."
ReplyDeleteJosh, I agree that in Abigail Adam's letter's to John she appeals most to Jimmie Killingsworth's theory of 'Resisting Progress'. In her letter's, it is evident that she is concerned about the future of the country. She states in Man Is a Dangerous Creature that, "[she] wish[es] [she] knew what mighty things were fabricating" (316). She realizes that there are bigger plans taking place regarding the future of the country, but because she is not informed she is worried about "the progressive trend of democratic politics and culture" (Killingsworth 48).
ReplyDeleteAlso in Man Is a Dangerous Creature, Abigail questions how the government will be run because of the flaws of human nature. She mentions, "The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenueous for the Right of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the perogatives of Government" (Adams 116). Abigail is pointing out the problems of the potential government to her husband; however, he disregards her concerns. He may do so because, "the idea od progress is so dominant that few people will accept the idea of 'going backwards' or 'turning the clock back'" (Killingsworth 49). Abigail is an example of resisting progress because of her fear of the unknown; although, her husband John is a promoter of progress.