Sojourner Truth

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Discuss how "Ain't I a Woman" depicts different social conditions of the time period.

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I think that Truth's poem masterfully blends different social conditions of the time period to reveal more voice.  Truth recognized that the Age of Reform in the time period was one that should encompass as many different social conditions as possible.  It is for this reason that Truth does not force an arbitrary choice between gender or race.  She encompasses both in her poem, suggesting that women of color face both conditions in a convergent manner.  It is not the choice between race or gender, but rather one that acknowledges a voice that carries both experiences within it.  For example, the idea of being able to experience children dying or being taken is something that appeals to both the issue or condition of slavery as well as the silencing of voice for women.  Both narratives are validated in Truth's analysis.  In this, I think that there is a definite call in Truth's poem that social contexts have to be seen in a convergent light.  There is not a notion of either race or gender or class.  Rather, they all seem to converge in the experiences of modern America and Truth caught on to that in her work, "Ain't I a Woman."

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