Toussaint-Louverture
Written in a time of unrest and strong prejudice, this speech made by a white abolitionist, Wendell Phillips spoke out to provide an example of what a just and righteous Negro can accomplish, even when, faced by strong white powers. He speaks of General and Leader Toussaint-Loverture of the Haitian Republic. Phillips uses the concepts of Aristotelian Triangle, historical allusions and diction to praise his subject and move his audience.
To introduce the greatness of General Louverture, Phillips used rhetorical devices, such as extensive figurative language with his allusions and metaphors. He begins by stating that to “tell a story” of someone of controversial importance, one much “take it” from the “lips” of their admirer. Take from those that hold “story” and person in high esteem. He then uses metaphors to allude to an to provide examples of the aforementioned statement by saying that if he were to tell a story of Napoleon he would “take it from the lips of Frenchmen” and the story of Washington from the American people, rather than take the story of Napoleon from the accounts of Russians or the story of Washington from the British histories. The metaphor is continued, yet moved to the main topic view, General Louverture. Phillips laments on how the story of Louverture has to be taken from the lips of his eternal enemies; how the story of his accomplishments are undermined by only being told by those he beat in many battles; how the story is taken from the great powers of the “Britons, Frenchmen, Spaniards” all of whom he forcefully ejected out of his small country and would not allow their ploys for dominance to once again reign. Underlining these thoughts, it seems as if Phillips is equating Loverture to the aforementioned Napoleon and Washington through his continuing metaphors. He equates Louverture to leader, and most powerful of the Greek Gods, Zues, with figurative language. This is done by stating that Toussaint “forged a...