The Oxford English Dictionary defines rhetoric as, “the art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others.” Steven B. Katz’s The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust, illustrates the use of rhetoric when present in a memo taken from a published transcript of Shoah, a documentary film on the Holocaust. The memo technically explains improvements that are needed for the vans being used in the early Nazi programs to effectively get rid of “undesirables” (Katz 256), commonly known as Jews. Though this idea, ethically, raises concern of works void of emotion it is technically written to perfection. Through rhetoric this memo is able to effectively explain these horrific suggestions without evoking horrific feelings. In this essay, I will rhetorically analyze Phillis Wheatley’s On Being Brought from Africa to America. Then argue that with the use of rhetoric, specifically the three rhetorical elements Katz says are used in the Shoah, Wheatley effectively shows her influence on whites and their views. She made them believe that her poem submissively accounts gratitude towards them for bringing the slaves from Africa to America. The poem is really a preverbal middle finger that she could not textualize due to her station so she uses the “topoi” (Katz 257) or “a rhetorical commonplace or literary […] formula” (OED) to explain her true views on slavery.
Wheatley was a black slave brought over to America from Africa. She was snatched from her mother and brought to America to be sold. She was purchased by John and Susannah Wheatley. They taught her to read and write languages like English and Latin and then later sent her to England to broaden her horizon. She did not lead the typical slave life. She was granted certain privileges yet Wheatley would never be their equal, and she was never acknowledged as their equal no matter the success she achieved. She had to use her station of privilege smartly. She had to please the whites and not seem like a traitor of her own race. So she seemingly writes like she is trying to appease her white benefactors, but if you read her works with a rhetorical slant you will stumble upon her undetectable agenda. There are subtle jabs of justice for enslaved blacks in her poetry. Wheatley had to use certain technical devices to mask her true views on the slavery of her race. Her position did not grant her the ability to speak frankly on how she felt. A rhetorical reading of Wheatley’s poem allows for readers to see how different methodologies are used to unmask layers of true intention of the author.
“Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land/ Taught my benighted soul to understand/ That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too” (1-3). Wheatley seemingly states that she was saved from her homeland, Africa, by her merciful masters and then brought over to America and introduced to Christianity, which thankfully saved her “benighted soul” (2) from damnation. Based upon the common thoughts of early Americans, damnation is inevitable and expected of all that do not except it as their ideology. Wheatley cunningly introduces what Katz calls the “common topic of relationship” (Katz 257). Katz uses this term to describe the “cause and effect” (Katz 257) in his argument. The cause in his argument is the increase in killings of Jews so the effect is the improvements in the van that are needed to be made. In Wheatley’s poem the “common topic of relationship [or] cause and effect” (Katz 257) is the relationship between the saved white Christians and the unsaved African slaves. Wheatley coaxes the whites into believing they were the sole reason in saving the Africans and insinuating without them being so merciful and bringing them from a land without Christianity the Africans would have been damned to hell for eternity. But Wheatley is really saying what the white men do not see is the true foundation of the Africans being saved is not the “mercy” (1) of the men that presents the notion of being saved, but the slaves belief in the ideology, Christianity, which actually saves their souls. Wheatley cleverly exposes the agenda of the whites, by making it seem like she thanks them for their “mercy” (1) but really she is only grateful for being introduced to the actual religion. She further solidifies my claim when she says, “Once I redemption neither sought nor knew” (4). She would not have known about Christianity because she would not have known where to look, but the early Americans introduced it to her and now cannot take that away from her. Wheatley displays several similar functions that the Shoah did while rhetorically writing about slavery in America.
“Some view our sable race with scornful eye/ Their colour is a diabolic die” (5-6). Wheatley’s use of Katz’s second rhetorical element “topic of comparison [or] difference” is not as clear as the first element. The reader must use close reading and really break down her word choices between lines 5 and 6. In line 5 Wheatley uses her own voice, this is evident based on her usage of the word “our.” She states other races, assuming she means the dominant white race that this is written for, views “our” race with distain. She is not claiming ownership of this claim she is merely stating what “some” others may believe. When I first read this line I fell victim to her clever usage of rhetoric. We then see the shift in ownership when she uses the word “their” (6) unlike the pervious usage of “our” in line 5. This complete change of ownership from one line to the next shows the “difference” (Katz 257) in not only word usage and ownership but in the change of voice. Wheatley subtly uses two voices to further show that the views of her benefactors are not her own views although she cannot outright state that claim. In copy of the text line 6 is also placed in quotations. This is a signal that these words are not of Wheatley. If someone would read this without a rhetorical lens they may assume that Wheatley owns both statements, which is the statement that her race is both disdainful and diabolical. But with the “difference” (Katz 257) in voices and word usage she successfully separates her views from those she must impress without being revealed.
Wheatley uses Katz’s last rhetorical element, “topic of circumstance [or] the impossible” (Katz 257) in lines 7 and 8, by saying “remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain/ May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” Wheatley is saying that all men, “Christians [and] Negros” with souls “black as Cain” (7) can be saved and “join th’ angelic train” (8). Wheatley shows the whites that Christianity, which they introduced to the “Negros” (7), will save them in any instance or circumstance even if their souls are as “black” (7) as a murderer. Artfully she also includes those who already think they are saved, the “Christians” (7) she mentions, that maybe they are not as “angelic” (8) as they may say, and they too if they truly believe and act as a Christian, can be really saved and go to heaven. Wheatley is saying that yes, it is not “impossible” for the “Negros” (7) to be born again into Christianity, but it too is not “impossible” (Katz 257) for those Christians who think they are saved to be born again. Wheatley is intelligently saying we all no matter who we are- are to be held under the same “circumstance[s]” (Katz 257) when it comes to entering onto the Kingdom of Heaven. Race, authority, or wealth does not exclude any man for answering for his wrongdoings before he enters into the gates of Heaven.
Wheatley ingeniously lends her voice to the struggles and woes of the origins of slavery, all while keeping her benefactors unknowing. She is able to use rhetoric much in the same manner as Katz explains is done in the Shoah. But in case, different from the Shoah, Wheatley’s work is not void of emotion. It gives on one level appeasement and on another pride. She is able to have these two types of emotions prominent in her work due to her ability to manipulate the literary device of rhetoric. Wheatley is able to separate her views of slavery and the views of the whites reading her poetry. With the right methodological use of rhetoric authors are able to get many different points across. Though Wheatley’s work is different from the Katz’s piece, we can see how the effective use of rhetoric can allow writers to use one work and have multiple meanings.
Katz, Steven B. “The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust.” College English 54.3: 255-57. Print.
“On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley : The Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174733>
