Mary Wollstonecraft is communicating the idea that she feels women deserve the same civil rights and respect as men do. She wants the recipient of this letter to acknowledge the issues within the society and become active in solving it. Wollstonecraft would be apart of a feminist community, being that she believes in the political injustice that women go under. The recipient of this letter is not apart of this community because he is a man, while she also presents a many grievances based upon his failure to acknowledge this and continue to permit it.
Quote #1: “‘If woman isn’t fitted by education to become man’s companion, she will stop the progress of knowledge’, because truth must be common to all; if it isn’t it won’t be able to influence how people in general behave. And how can woman be expected to cooperate if she doesn’t know why she ought to be virtuous? ”
Writing Strategy: Argumentative evidence
This strategy would stand out to me because she using evidence that mirrors her point to the recipient. She feels that women deserve the rights that men do, especially education. If a woman is uneducated she will not be able fulfill her duties as women and caring for he children because she will never know anything.
Quote #2: “Unless they understand it—unless their morals are based on the same immutable principles as those of man—no authority can make them act virtuously. They may be convenient slaves,but slavery will have its constant effect, degrading the master and the abject dependent.
Writing Strategy: Logos
This strategy would stand out to me because she is making a comparison to the situation, so that the recipient may see it from a different lens. Comparing the injustice to women to slavery illustrates the oppression women are under, and how morbid their actions are. Throughout the letter she states how women are seen and treated as objects, and men instill virtues on women that they can barely comprehend being that they are uneducated. Women were prevented from obtaining an education so men can have full control and women can lack individualism, which Wollstonecraft would acknowledge as immoral.
Yes. She does (as you point in your second quote) compare women’s situations to slavery to drive home the point the injustice they are experiencing. It also insults her audience without doing so directly–she is telling them they are like slaveholders and since they have just revolted for the equality of men–this would offend them. She is therefore using their values against them. and them same is true in the first quote you pick. Men want good wives and mothers–they believe this is what women should be–Wollstonecraft is using that to get what she wants.