Justin Henry

  1. Mary Wollstonecraft “Dedicatory Letter” to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft explains her beliefs with the equal opportunity between women and men. In her letter she explains how there is a lot of discrimination between men and women and the rights shouldn’t be based on gender. The main goal towards the beneficiary of this letter is to change a person’s mindset that everyone deserves to have equal rights, men or women. Wollstonecraft’s letter is also telling readers to understand that a woman must educate themselves in order to be open footing with men.
  2. In my opinion, the discourse community that Wollstonecraft is a part of is the rights of women. The recipient isn’t a part of this discourse community. He is outside of this discourse community is part of another discourse community that is rights for men.

Quote 1: ” The conduct and manners of women, in fact, show clearly that their minds are not in a healthy state; as with flowers planted in soil that is too rich, strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty; and the flamboyant leaves, after giving pleasure to viewers, fade on the stalk, disregarded, long before it was the time for them to reach maturity” (Wollstonecraft 4)

Writing Strategy: Descriptive

In this quote uses imagery and description to compare women similarly towards flowers. This imagery that she uses is effective in this case since she describes how women who aren’t properly planted in the “soil”, will not be able to reach their full potential in education. She mentions that the “strength and usefulness” will be wasted on the beauty of the women instead of the potential to reach maturity and be educated within themselves. The imagery she describes fits with what she is trying to say.

Quote 2:“Isn’t that what you are doing when you force all women, by denying them civil and political rights, to remain walled in by their families and groping in the dark?” 

Writing Strategy:rhetorical 

This quote is effective because she is using it to explain her self why all woman should have rights and that it isn’t fair to keep people in the dark by stoping them to vote.