The Speech of Miss Polly Baker by Ben Franklin - Assignment Example

Upon introducing the character Franklin makes the point to evoke a sense of ethos by self-describing the woman as “poor” and “unhappy” – the latter having little if anything to do with the overall fairness or lack of fairness that the given situation brings to bear with regards to the law that is being challenged in the form of her protest letter. Rather, it is used as a means to evoke a sense of emotional attachment with the reader and cast the woman in a favorable and pitiful light.

She agrees that she is in fact guilty of an infraction of the law but argues rather than for her innocence that the laws themselves are antiquated and not reflective of what the society of her time should represent. Furthermore, she anticipates the counterargument of immorality by stating that it is a moral dictum from the Almighty that people should be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Thirdly, she appeals to her civic and patriotic duty to fill the virgin lands of the United States with sons and daughters as a way to counter those that would state that she should be barren due to the fact that she is unwed.

The fact of the matter is that Polly is represented as a simple woman, not gifted oratory, or particularly well educated. As such, this simple woman is perhaps the best vehicle that Franklin could choose to ridicule the system that penalized those that had the very least with such unreasonable fines for issues of moral turpitude. 9. How do the diction and syntax establish Polly as a humble obedient woman? Time and again, Polly represented herself as something of an “everywoman”. This helped to identify the topic that she was discussing with the magistrates in a way that those who would read Franklin’s piece would and easily could identify with.

Furthermore, the syntax that she used helped to further identify her as somewhat uneducated yet at the same time street smart in the sense that she may not understand the complexities of the law, but she understood the broader issues that faced morality and the fledgling nation at the time that the letter was supposedly penned. 10. If you did not criticize a practice or system, what clues might you notice that suggest something is below the surface? Consider elements of satire such as hyperbole, understatement, connotative language, double entendres, and puns.

By using the form of rhetorical questions that are employed throughout the piece, Franklin is able to show a stark contrast between the realities of life and the means by which the prevailing notions of justice were carried out during the time. Furthermore, employing this level of rhetorical question helps cue the reader into the fact that the letter to the magistrates belies something deeper and has at its core a type of diatribe against systemic inequalities of justice.11. What does Franklin achieve by writing in the voice of a woman and creating this fictional scenario rather than simply writing a straightforward criticism of a system that he believes treats women unfairly?

Oftentimes broader truths of current society must be realized and penned via those that actually suffer most from their implementation. Such was the case for Franklin’s justification for using Polly as a mechanism to express the ludicrous nature of such laws of moral turpitude within the colonies. Moreover, by writing in the voice of a woman, the straightforward criticism engenders a type of ethos that would not be able to be elicited had Franklin himself just penned the editorial and had it published.