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Social Movements Theory : A Burkean Approach To The Rhetoric Of Abolition, Elena Maytee Cruz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Inspired by Kenneth Burke's dramatism, this thesis examined the viability of social movements rhetorical theory in its application to literature by focusing on the 1 9th century abolitionist movement in the United States and moving from the analysis of public speeches to fictional works.

Chapter one applied the rhetorical analysis of social movements to noteworthy speeches by William Lloyd Garrison and Francis Maria W. Stewart. Chapter two examined social movements rhetoric in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Chapter three considered Uncle Tom's Cabin and determined whether social movements rhetorical theory could illuminate this persuasive work of …