Rhetorical Analysis of Abagail Adams Letter To Her Son Essay Sample

On January 12, 1780, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams wrote a persuasive letter to her naive son, John Quincy Adams who was traveling abroad with his father. Considering the son is already away her letter is almost reinforcing the reasons experiencing a trip is important. Adams exemplifies that traveling allows for the future to contain new information, in addition to addressing that itinerant evokes the best character and qualities in a human being, in order to convince her son that the value of experience is important. 

To begin her speech, Abigail Adams reiterates that the experience of traveling to a different location can better cultivate knowledge in the future, in order for her son to understand that roving can broaden experiences down the road. Adams opens by justifying the importance of furthering John’s maturity in the “knowledge of the language,”  ultimately offering “greater advantages” in the further to gain a better “understanding” ( Adams 11-16). She showcases the importance of language to prove how it can only benefit him in the future. By doing this, she is revealing the significance of thinking about the future and how traveling is one way to experience a new way of learning. Adams continued persuading her son to travel by showcasing  how an author “compares a judicious traveller to a river,” conclusively offers a metaphor of the significance in learning new things (Adams 18). This metaphor articulates that the longer the time spent the better the quality of material that is being learned, hence “ the further it flows from its source” the likelihood of  “improv(ing) their qualities as they pass along” (Adams 19-22). Again, she is expressing the importance of traveling, in order to get information that can be kept for future days, almost offering an advantage for those who travelled. This would promptly move John Quincy Adams to start to realize the importance of traveling because it ultimately moves her son to picture how traveling can only benefit him in the future. 

Having already established that the future will benefit from traveling, Adams advances her argument by expressing the value that traveling has, by arousing someone's best character  and qualities. Towards the end of Abigail Adams letter, she begins to enlighten the idea that a “mind” is spirited when “scenes that engage the heart” are present (Adams 42-43). She declares that when these “qualities” are introduced, they “form the character of the hero and the statesman” (Adams 45). Adams highlights that considering they are traveling in addition to  noticing new things it evokes a sense of bliss, overall making her son an exponential human being. She emphasizes the fact of being a kind person, in order for her son to see that being compassionate not only impacts him but other individuals as well. Adams furthers her letter by indicating that experiencing traveling allows for her son to visualize what being an adequate person is like, along with  how being somewhere else he is representing the country. Being kind not only has to do with heart but actions, “every manly virtue” can furnish a “good citizen” (Adams 67).  Adams wants him to be  outstanding, because traveling is a fresh experience, she also wants him to comprehend that a change in character will last infinitely. 

Within Abigail Adams' letter, she is determined to get her son to visualize the importance of traveling. Hoping for John to understand, Abigail describes the importance of how knowledge learned is beneficial in the future and increases the chance of becoming a more humane person. She encourages him to evaluate the pros of traveling abroad, in addition to experiencing an amazing trip and in doing this makes her mother extremely happy.