During the 1780s John Quincy Adams went traveling aboard with his father and brother to France. While they were traveling, John's mother, Abigail Adams, wrote a letter to him on January 12, 1780. She wrote to him to give him advice about his travels and to encourage him. In the letter, Abigail uses rhetorical devices such as flattery, historical references, and tone.
Adams encourages her son to stay strong and to keep his head up by flattering him in the first half of the letter. she starts the letter off by saying "My dear son", which shows that she wants to comfort her son and gives a positive connotation. She then writes about her worries to make John feel emotional, which is an example of pathos, to lure him into the advice that she is about to give him, In the second paragraph, she flatters her son by mentioning his language skills, then saying that he needs to improve. She uses the metaphor that the author she met with said to make her explanation easier to understand. Her mentioning that it was from an author is an example of ethos because the author is much wiser and smarter than John so the message coming from the author should be taken into consideration.
In the second half of the letter, Adams uses historical references and implies a sense of patriotism in her son to give him a sense of responsibility. In line 27, she implies that he is a genius and uses a historical reference to back it up, "Would Cicero have shown so distinguished an orator if he had not roused, kindled, and inflamed by the tyranny of Catiline, Veres, Mark Anthony?" (lines 30-32). The compliment flatters John while the reference gives and example to strengthen her argument. Adams implies a sense of patriotism to call her son out to action, "Yet it is your lot, my son, to be an eyewitness of these calamities in your own native land, and, at the same time, to owe your existence among a people who have made a glorious defense of their invaded liberties, and who aided by a generous and powerful ally." (lines 43-48) Adams also tells her son that as his mother, she has done so much for him, and if he didn't take advice to heart, her life would be meaningless,",,,that you have a parent who has taken so large and active a share in this contest, and discharged the trust respond in him with so much satisfaction as to be honored with the important embassy which at present calls him abroad." (lines 52-56). She does this to make him feel guilty. Adams closes the letter with a strong and affectionate motherly tone, stating her hopes for him.
While John Quincy Adams was traveling aboard with his father and brother, his mother, Abigail Adams, wrote a letter to him encouraging him of his travels and giving him advice. She uses a variety of rhetorical devices such as tone, historical references, flattery, pathos, and ethos to convey her message.
I know this is supposed to be an "academic" autobiography, but I never really liked the academic subjects. English, math, history, and especially science; they were all my weak suits.
The only time I actually enjoyed going to school was during my elementary years. While attending Third St. Elementary, I thought my life perfect. I would get almost all "4's" and some "3's". These were the years where I actually like school and thought learning was fun, but even then, I liked sports and physical activities better. I was always so eager to go to recess and lunch so I can play handball, basketball, or other activities. My favorite years were second and third grade because I had the same teacher for both years, Mr. Han. He is the one that introduced me to sports, for he was a huge Cowboys fan. He would give out collector's cards to kids as a prize for doing good in class. He would plan kickball games with other classes, this was probably the best part of the day. Then came fourth and fifth grade. I couldn't play as much because I had a lot of work to do and I procrastinated a lot, so my teacher would keep me in during recess to finish all my work, shortening my time to play. Fourth grade is when started to dislike education and slacked off a lot. This is when I would start to get "2's". Then my fifth grade year happened. I shaped myself up and convinced myself to do better, and I did. my teacher was awesome and I had a really great time.
However, everything came crashing down as I entered middle school, John Burroughs Middle School. Everything was so new to me and I didn't know what to do. The difficulty level of everything just increased dramatically, at least for me it did, and I was just lost. Sixth grade was when I got my first "F's". I really tried to do better but it was just too hard for me. But my grades started to get better my middle school years passed by. My "F's" slowly disappeared and I started getting used to middle school. Then came eighth grade. This is when I officially decided that I HATED science. Not only did I hate science but I was absolutely horrible at it. My math skills also slowly deteriorated because my teacher was just plain weird. But through all these struggles, I had one thing I really enjoyed doing, P.E. I had the best P.E. teachers and they made P.E. fun for me. Other students call me weird for liking a P.E. but I think it's fun.
Once I graduated middle school, I moved on to high school. I am currently attending Fairfax High School. When I started high school, I knew it was a new beginning for me. Everything was new and it was a fresh start, this is where everything happens. Before I actually began high school, I thought it was going to be fun and exciting, like how the shows on TV show it. Unluckily for me, it wasn't. It was the total opposite. I still hated science, began to dislike math, and English was a joke for me. Just like middle school, the only subject I liked was P.E. In the ninth grade, I had a great P.E. teacher, making my ninth grade P.E. incredible. However, I couldn't participate in the activities we did for the first few weeks because I was injured. But even with the injury, I pushed myself to do the things the class was doing, I mean its boring just sitting there watching the class doing all the fun things. My freshman year is also the year I ran the Los Angeles marathon. I joined a club called S.R.L.A. (Students Run LA). It was a great experience and one of the greatest goals I have achieved in my life so far.
After I ran the marathon, I decided what I wanted to do, and that was to run, but not long distances like the marathon. Instead, I joined track during the second semester of my sophomore year. At first, it was really tiring and hard but as time went by, it became easier and fun. I would always be excited to go to my track meets and run, but I was not the best or even close to the best. But being good was not my goal, it was about just trying my best and beating my own record. I usually ran the 1600m (one mile) and 800m (half mile). The 800m was always the hardest for me but that's what kept me going. I would always tell myself, "my pain is my determination ad inspiration." Then one day, I broke my record for the 1600m with a time of 5:50. Although this is not that fast compared to other people, I was really happy and proud of myself.
Now I am currently in my junior year and school is not so easy. My classes are more difficult and am not able to get that much time to exercise or play. But I my interest in math is slowly coming back. I am currently in math analysis/ trigonometry. My teacher is great and his class is the reason to why my interest in math is returning. Hopefully by the end of the year, I will actually have an academic subject that I actually like.
