Sojourner’s Speech: My Feeling and Parts that Stand Out
Reading Sojourner Truth’s speech arouses a sense of being powerful as a woman. My eyes have been opened as I view life differently now. It never occurred to me once before that the world has grown to what it is today because of the power of a woman, one woman. More interestingly, the revelation of how much women can accomplish if they unite is amazing, to set things right in the world.
Sojourner tells of her struggles in life as a woman and in repeatedly posing the question “Ain’t I a woman?” stresses how much she has acted against all odds to do things the society thinks cannot be done by women. She says “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or…And ain’t I a woman?” (Truth par. 2).
The part that stands out most is where she mentions of men’s irrelevance when it comes to how Christ came into existence. This is so because men are portrayed to be as insignificant as can be. She utters, “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him” (Truth par. 4).This part emphasizes the importance of women in continuity of the human race since men cannot reproduce on their own. She remotely underscores the need for equality between the sexes.
It is really disheartening, touching, to learn the pain of losing one’s children to slavery .Sojourner points out how negative racism and slavery are, for they bring misery and pain to the mother. She says “I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold…I cried out with my mother’s grief…” (Truth par. 2). Reading this speech almost drives me to tears.
Works cited
Truth, Sojourner, and Amos P. Kennedy. Ain’t I a Woman? Oak Park, Ill: A.P. Kennedy, Jr, 1990. Print.
