Prof. Williams | ENG 1121 - HD18 | Spring 2022

Discussion: Wollstonecraft Letter

Due: 11:59 PM February 14

Read an alternate format of direct address to a discourse community and reverse outline the letter into the genre requirements for your first assignment.

List pros and cons of a speech vs. letter — what might you do?

Outline Mary Wollstonecraft’s letter by the assignment prompt requirements 

  • Genre 
    • Conventions (of a Letter): 
    • Concrete Examples:
    • Suggestions and solutions:
  • Audience 
    • Who:
    • Problem they should care about: 
    • Tone, organization and style:
  • Purpose
    • Why she is addressing the audience:
    • Main point:
    • Justifications or reasons for solutions: 

NOTE: There are two ways to reference page numbers in this document. The letter is on pages 5-7 OF THE PDF and pages 1-3 OF THE PRINTED BOOK.

12 Comments

  1. Brianna W.

    IA MACHARASHVILI:

    GENRE

    Letter
    Suggestions and solutions: There should be no pressure in society—no rules that force people into certain social roles or situations.
    AUDIENCE

    Who : M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun
    The secondary audience is women who seek the truth of their rights
    The problem they should care about: Education women are taught to receive and the rights of women. According to the dedication letter, the work is a response to Talleyrand’s Education report, which claims that women should only get a domestic education.
    Tone: serious tone, formal, disapproving.
    Style: letter
    PURPOSE

    Why she is addressing the audience: Her goal is to persuade her audience that women’s rights should be reconsidered.
    Main point: Gender injustice
    Justifications or reasons for solutions: If women are not allowed to fulfill their legal rights, they will pursue illegal privileges in ways that are harmful to both men and women.
    Pros and cons of a speech vs. letter

    SPEECH (pros) – emotion, own personal opinion, the information presented in a clear, summed-up manner.

    SPEECH (cons) – not understanding the need of the audience, can encourage others to commit acts of violence.

    LETTER (pros) – clear and easy to understand, can be read multiple times and saved.

    LETTER (cons) – takes more time, revised multiple times.

    What might you do?

    For me, a speech would be a better option because it allows you to convince others of your thoughts and knowledge by expressing them in person with emotions that would motivate the audience.

  2. Kevin

    GENRE

    -Conventions (of a Letter): It is a letter primarily written to M. Talleyrand-Perigord the former Bishop of Atum to discuss women’s rights.

    -Concrete Examples:
    – At the top of the letter it says, “To M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord
    former Bishop of Autun”.
    -“…to induce you to reconsider the subject and maturely
    weigh what I shall say about the rights of women and
    national education;…”

    -Suggestions and solutions:
    -The suggestion that Mary Wollstonecraft makes is that women deserve rights. Her argument is that independence is everything to humans and having that liberty shouldn’t just belong to man but to the entirety of the human race.

    AUDIENCE

    -Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord Bishop of Autun

    -The problem they should care about: Is women’s rights to independence and education.

    -Tone, organization, and style: It was an informal letter as it was educating Talleyrand about why every human being regardless of gender deserves to think and be independent on their own terms

    PURPOSE

    -Why she is addressing the audience: This audience is Talleyrand as he is at a high level and is an active member of the development of the french revolution.

    -Main point: Women’s rights and national education.

    -Justifications or reasons for solutions: Mary Wollstonecraft says that women should be independent beings just as men are. She informs this and wants to change the education that we teach children. This teaching is that women have a certain role to play to which she disagrees with. Instead, she thinks ” …no laws that force people into this or that social
    role or situation·.” Which in other terms means women should have a voice of their own and choose what they should partake in.

  3. Shawina B

    ‱ Genre
    Conventions (of a Letter):
    salutation, body, closing, and a signature
    Concrete Examples:
    started by saying sir—the salutation; discussed her grievance—the body; ended with I am, sir, yours respectfully (intentional)—closing; and her signature
    Suggestions and solutions:
    fix gender inequality, get rid of the double standard regarding social roles
    ‱ Audience
    Who:
    The former Bishop of Autun—M. Talleyrand-Perigord
    The problem they should care about:
    The rights of women and national education, building a system where man and woman is equally virtuous
    Tone, organization, and style:
    Her tone was emotional-frustrated/angry, she was direct, professional/formal
    ‱ Purpose
    Why she is addressing the audience:
    She wants him to change his thinking on the role of women. She wants him to see that the oppression of women contradicts the constitution and morality of their society
    Main point:
    Women should have the right to make decisions about what’s right for them; what role they want to play in society; how educated they would like to be

    Justifications or reasons for solutions:
    Equality and education for women will positively affect the morality, virtue, and strength of a society.

    The pros and cons of a letter vs. a speech:
    Both a speech and a letter have many of the same pros and cons in common. For pros, they both can be persuasive, informative, emotional, instructional, etc. For cons, they both can be ineffective if not delivered well, miss the right audience, receive negative feedback, and be subject to interference (disruptive audience or letter not being delivered), etc. On the other hand, there are pros to a speech that are cons to a letter. A speech can reach a large audience; your tone can be heard, there is real-time feedback-allowing you to adjust your speech accordingly and can be delivered through many channels. Conversely, there are pros to a letter that are cons to a speech. A letter can be as detailed as you want without losing the audience, your audience is very specific, can be reread several times for clarity, and can be private.

  4. Clevoy Barnes

    GENRE
    –Conventions (of a Letter): A opening salutation-body-closing
    –Concrete Examples: A concrete example would be Dedicatory Letter by Mary Wollstonecraft
    –Suggestions and solutions: Mary Wollstonecraft could have attacked her points more directly.

    AUDIENCE
    –Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun
    –Problem they should care about: The rights of woman
    –Tone, organization and style: It was a very firm and informative tone. The organization was very formal and direct; everything was well put together to get the message across. Her style was very formal and direct.

    PURPOSE
    –Why she is addressing the audience: She is addressing the audience because she wants “The rights of woman” to get looked at in a different way and for them to speak up for their own and not have the opposite sex speak for them. She says things like “I know that you firmly believe you are acting in the manner most likely to promote women’s happiness; but who made man the exclusive judge.” She also addresses this audience because of the role Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord plays in the French revolution.
    –Main point: The main point is about Women’s rights and national education
    –Justifications or reasons for solutions: The reasons for solutions is because it is believed that women are independent the same way that males are and the changes in the education given to children.

    PROS OF A SPEECH
    — Your point is easily heard
    — You can record a video of your giving your speech
    — You get emotional points across easier

    CONS OF A SPEECH
    — Too long of a oral presentation
    — Misunderstand your presentation because of a accent maybe
    — Too biased towards one side

    PROS OF A LETTER:
    — You can make multiple written copies of your work
    — People who like to read a lot are more likely to ready your work
    — It promotes mindfulness

    CONS OF A LETTER:
    — Have to wait for it to deliver
    — May not fulling understand the grammar used.
    — May be to long to read

  5. Alberto Jorge

    .Genre
    Conventions (of a Letter): To discuss the rights of women, M. Talleyrand-Perigord, the former Bishop of Atum, is the primary recipient of the letter.
    Concrete Examples:Mary Wollstonecraft’s Dedicatory Letter is a good example
    Suggestions and solutions: Her arguments could have been strengthened if Mary Wollstonecraft had attacked them directly.
    .Audience –
    Who:The people
    Problem they should care about: The rights
    Tone, organization and style: very sad and worried
    .Purpose
    Why she is addressing the audience: she is addressing the audience because she wants them to express how they feel and wants women’s rights
    Main point: She wants women’s right
    Justifications or reasons for solutions: The solution is that she wants women to have rights and to have independence.

  6. Shawn Dorsey Jr.

    Genre
    Conventions (of a Letter) – This letter is being sent to address M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord, former Bishop of Autun.
    Concrete Examples:
    All the components of a letter were included, for example, at the top of the letter it says “To” and she starts by saying “Sir”. She says yours respectfully and leaves her initials at the bottom of pg 3.
    Suggestions and Solutions:
    Mary believes that all power shouldn’t be given to men but believes but everybody should have just as many rights as men. She is addressing gender inequality. It is unfair for women. Women shouldn’t be forced by denying them civil and political rights and to remain walled in. Decisions shouldn’t be made for them.
    Audience
    Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord, former Bishop of Autun.
    The problem they should care about: Women’s rights and that there shouldn’t be any gender inequality. Men and women should be treated equally. There should be no respecter of persons. Women should be treated fairly and not forced.
    Tone, organization, style: Her tone was assertive, she was upfront about the ongoing issue, passionate, well spoken, inforamal, direct.
    Purpose
    Why is she addressing the audience: She is addressing this matter so he can change the way he feels towards women. She is pointing out that it is unfair for women not to have rights.
    Main point: Women rights, gender inequality
    Justifications or reasons for solutions: Let there be no coercion established in society— no laws that force people into this or that social role situation.

    Speech(Pros): Allows for more academic diversity, It can tell us things which we had not thought of,you can let your opinions be heard without much fear of repercussions
    Speech(Cons): Misunderstood, audience can take it the wrong way.
    Letter(Pros): Provides written communication, visual information is included, can range from one to many pages.
    Letter(Cons): Lack of instantaneous communication,

  7. Alija Muratovic

    Genre

    Conventions (of a Letter): A letter to M. Talleyrand PĂ©rigord who is the former Bishop of Autun
    Concrete Examples: “Sir” , “M. Talleyrand PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun” and her signature at the end of her speech
    Suggestions and solutions: Women should have the same rights as men. She doesn’t want liberty to be for men only, she wants it to be for both genders.

    Audience

    Who: M. Talleyrand- PĂ©rigord Bishop of Autun
    Problem they should care about: Women should be able to get an education and should be equal to men

    Tone, organization and style: The tone was a strong and she gave a formal speech

    Purpose

    Why she is addressing the audience: She is speaking to a man of high power who can make a change and she tries to help him better understand

    Main point: Women deserve to have a right to get educated and equal to me.

    Justifications or reasons for solutions: It will positively affect society as women will be able to contribute to society

    Pros: A speech is good because you can speak to so many people at once, especially if your speech is being streamed. A letter is good also because you know hi to speak to a specific group.
    Cons: A letter is only speaking to a select amount of people. A speech wouldn’t be good because you don’t know how everyone in the room thinks.

  8. Brandon Nguyen

    Genre:

    Conventions of a letter: A letter to addressed to M. Talleyrand PĂ©rigord who was the former Bishop of Autun.

    Concrete Examples:
    The bold words on the top of the letter was addressed to To M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord
    former Bishop of Autun.

    Suggestions and Solutions: Fighting for the rights of women, and to eliminate gender inequalities.

    Audience:

    Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord, former Bishop of Autun.

    The problem they should care about: Gender inequality negatively affects the education of the people and would want education to be accessible for both genders.

    Tone: The tone throughout the letter was calm and direct but the author showed a sense of disappointment for the problem that is occurring.

    Purpose:
    Why she is addressing the audience: The goal is to convince the people and the former bishop of Autun to have a deeper understanding about the importance of Gender inequality and the negatives it brings.

    Main point: Education should be accessible to everyone and gender should not affect the difficulty to access education.

    Justifications or reasons for solutions: Knowledge is spreading rapidly in France and it would affect the country positively if more people were educated.

    Pros for letter: A letter is good because it allows for more people to remember your message. Thus, a letter could be more persuasive in order to make people understand a message.

    Cons for letter: The message is spread a lot slower since it has to be spread through mail unless it is posted online, then the message would have to be spread somewhere else in order to send the link to the letter.

    Pros for Speech: the message is spread a lot faster because of speeches often having more broadcasting for the speech to be heard.

    Cons for speech: The audience has to rely on audio cues which people could mishear or could not understand you very well unless there are captions.

  9. Livleen

    GENRE

    Conventions of a Letter: Discusses the rights of woman written to M. Talleyrand-Perigord

    Concrete Examples: Uses language such as “sir” and starts the letter off properly with “To M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun..”

    Suggestions and Solutions: Mary Wollstonecraft is trying to explain that the all women matter and their voices should be represented as equally as men are treated.

    AUDIENCE

    Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun

    Problem they should care about: The rights of woman and equality

    Tone, organization and style: Professional tone and straightforward, direct and some anger towards the injustice done to women

    PURPOSE:

    Why she is adressing the audience: She wants to convey a message about how important women rights are and what they mean to her.

    Main Point: No one should be telling a woman what to do or how to act but herself. Every women should have the same right as men to have an equal say in all matters of the world. There shouldn’t be a difference between genders and women deserve the right to be independent and free.

    Justifications or reasons for solutions: In the future, woman will not have to face such hardships the women in the past have experienced and they will have more freedom and independence.

    Pros of a speech: leadership ability, get to be creative, get your message across easily

    Cons of a speech: people can have different opinions or perspectives, bad understanding

    Pros of a letter: written communication and are more personal

    Cons of a letter: grammar errors, hard to understand

  10. kaylasmall

    Genre
    Conventions (of a Letter): written to M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord
    Concrete Examples: “M. Talleyrand PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun”
    Suggestions and solutions: women and men should be equal in rights, not just men having more rights than women
    Audience
    Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord
    Problem they should care about: men having more rights than women and women’s rights not being equal to mens
    Tone, organization and style: her tone was confident and strong willed and her style was very formal
    Purpose
    Why she is addressing the audience: To prove that women should have the same rights as men and not be treated as less than for their gender
    Main point: to have equality of the sexes
    Justifications or reasons for solutions: women being able to freely practice their rights the same as men will not only benefit women but society as a whole
    Pros of letter
    Concise language, easy to understand
    Pros of speech
    Easy to hear tone of voice
    Cons of letter
    May cause lack of communication, not able to use tone or emphasis easily
    Cons of speech
    Not easy to engage, subjects can get bored easily

  11. Dian Guo

    Genre:
    Conventions (of a Letter): A letter for M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun.
    Concrete Examples: The recipient wrote in the upper left corner of the beginning, the honorific title at the beginning, and the signature at the end.
    Suggestions and solutions: The author thinks that the status of men and women is not equal in modern society. Men make the rules but there are no women. The author hopes that men and women can be equal.

    Audience
    Who: M. Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord former Bishop of Autun
    The problem they should care about: Women also need the same rights as men in order to truly balance.
    Tone, organization and style: The author’s tone is very calm, enumerating the unequal relations between men and women from many aspects and narrating them in various forms such as speeches and letters.

    Purpose
    Why she is addressing the audience: The author tries to help readers feel and see these issues from the perspective of the audience or women.
    Main point: Women should have the same rights as men to achieve balance and fairness.
    Justification or reasons for solutions: When women and men have the same rights, it has a positive impact on the future generation’s ability to promote patriotism and values, and it also makes all obligations as binding as they should be.

    Pros for letter: The advantage of letter writing is that the writer can express all her feelings and thoughts without interruption.
    Cons for letter: The disadvantage is that the privacy is larger and the transmission speed is slower.
    Pros for speech: The advantage of speech is that it is easier to attract the attention of more people and even the whole society.
    Cons for speech: The disadvantage of a speech is that if it’s boring, it won’t have the desired effect, and it takes more time to translate into different languages.

  12. Cristian

    GENRE
    -Conventions: Written to M. Talleyrand Perigord- former bishop of Autun
    -Concrete Examples: Signature given at the bottom of the page
    -Suggestions and Solutions: Women should have the same rights as men

    AUDIENCE
    -Who: M. Talleyrand Perigord
    -Problem they should care about: The rights of the woman
    -Tone, Organization, and style: Strong and passionate about her message

    PURPOSE
    -Why she is addressing the audience: For woman’s right to be handled differently
    -Main point: Woman’s inequality
    -Justifications or reasons for solutions: Woman being treated equally will benefit society

    Speech pros: can be given at multiple events, reaches larger audiences, spreads easily, shows more emotion
    Speech cons: could misinterpret message

    Letter pros: written more formal, message given more directly, harder to misinterpret
    Letter cons: smaller audiences, less emotion shown

    Me personally I would rather give a speech because it can be given at multiple kinds of events while letter is more limited.

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