Ms Turth "@iNT i @ W0M@N?"

Rosie Charles
AP English III
Aint I A Woman?!?



In the speech “Aint I a Woman”, there is a lot of controversy about who wrote certain versions and why it is written certain ways. In one version, the title is “Aint I a Woman by Frances Gage (or Sojourner Truth)” There are two different ones. One is written in standard/correct English, while the other is written in “black dialectic”. Diction played a very important role in both of these pieces of work.


In the version with “black dialectic”, the diction is what stand out to me the most. For example, there are words like: aint, chilren, dey, dat, eber, ober, da, and ‘cause. I believe that this specific diction is a major asset in this speech because it targets a certain audience. For one it would be more understood by people who actually speak this way. Also, it makes the speech more down to Earth than anything. When someone speaks the way you do, it comforts you/the audience. It also make the writer/speaker seem more sincere. With this diction, the writer isn’t speaking over anyone’s head.


In the version with the Standard English, it has its advantages also. With this type diction I believe the source of the audience changes. For instance, the audience is no longer the “black” community. It is now the upper class that speaks proper. To me this seems as if the version is now aimed towards white people. This is the problem though. In the passage, Truth says we and uses pronouns that relate to each other, so why would this be toward white people.


I believe that Sojourner Truth wrote this speech in black dialectic, but not because she wasn’t as smart as whites, but because she wanted to relate to her people and her audience. I believe Truth was smarter than people have perceived. I have a strong feeling that the Standard English one was re-written for the upper class, and not to show Truth’s intellect. Why would she need to show that when she recently critized it in her speech?