And Ain't I a Woman?

Sojourner Truth was a famous American abolitionist and woman's rights activist famous in the 19th century for her tireless work in the field of civil rights. Written in 1851 the speech was written to tackle the issue of women's rights that was up and coming along with the advancement of African Americans. Her struggles were extremely difficult due to her role as an African American woman. She was kept down due to both her gender and her race making her attempts to prove herself and gain equality extremely difficult.

her speech falls under the naturalistic style due to it's depressing, bleak, and unfair nature of the speech. Naturalism, as defined by Giles is "naturalism has been devoted to documenting, with apparent objectivity, the extreme experiences of characters existing on the margins of society. Like the so-called realists, naturalists are committed to documenting the surfaces of American life and to probing its concealed depths, but unlike realists, who most often treated recognizable middle-class lives, naturalists usually focused on the desperate existence of characters trapped in slums or in other oppressed settings." With these common thematic elements in play the writing style of "Ain't I a Woman" clearly falls into this category with it's message of despair and unfairness to the African American woman and the struggles they are forced to endure day in and day out.

Although with no set setting and no main character through the message and language uses throughout Truth's speech the themes of naturalism bleed through and become evident to the listener/reader. Truth's desire for the American Dream is clear, but with her race and gender she is all to aware she will never be able to achieve that dream, which makes for the bleak nature of the speech with the disgust for the populace at their unacceptable nature bases on a person's gender and race.

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman? (Truth.)" This passage explores some of the injustices that occurred to Truth throughout her life. Most men of the period treated women properly albeit did not respect them. Because of her race however she was treated as nothing and had to live with the hardship of being both a woman and being African American. Her bitter and bleak style of this speech categorize the work as a naturalistic writing.

Truth, Sojourner. "Modern History Sourcebook: Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman."FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. .

Giles, James R. "naturalism." In Anderson, George P., Judith S. Baughman, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and Carl Rollyson, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature, Revised Edition: Into the Modern: 1896–1945, Volume 3. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1255&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 13, 2011).