A Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Sanger's Speech On Birth Control

Taylor Hurst
Kaiser
AP Lang
11 November 2015
Analysis of Margaret Sanger’s Speech on Birth Control Margaret Sanger, an American birth control activist, made an announcement titled “The Children’s Era,’ at the first national birth-control conference in March of 1925. In this speech, Sanger attempts to influence her ideas and beliefs on the importance of birth control and contraceptives to the health of society’s women. She also vividly explains how controlled childbearing would apply to children who would eventually be born. Margaret Sanger distinctly uses rhetorical devices which greatly support her dedication to allow women to control their lives. Beginning this speech, Margaret Sanger used alliteration to influence her audience to form an image in their minds when she said, “Why does the Children’s Ear still remain a dream of the dim and distant future?”and when she said, “ … they call this idea indecent and immoral.” The pairing of these specific words allow Sanger to emphasize this specific group of words to provide a specific

Some words Margaret Sanger used include the following: dim, distant, silly, unwelcome, unwanted, unprepared, unknown, exhausted, inefficient, struggle, meaningless, and waste. Including the sentence, “Worry, strain, shock, unhappiness, enforced maternity, may all poison the blood of the enslaved mothers,” provides the negative tone to hint that she does not like the fact that birth control is illegal in the United States. Her habitual word choices is a consequence of where she comes from. Diction reveals things about Sanger’s past and how she reacts and views the present. Margaret Sanger, a memorable and important woman of American history, used her determination and emotional influence to appeal to the national birth control committee, and, as a result, created a lasting speech filled with rhetorical