How Does Paine Use Figurative Language In The Crisis

Throughout The Crisis, Paine incorporates multiple uses of language to persuade the men to enlist in the war for freedom. Paine states, “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered” (1). He emphasizes that Britain's tyranny of the American colonies will be

Thomas Paine writes a series of persuasive essays called “The crisis”. Paine writes “The Crisis Volume 1” to talk about how King George's tyranny must be stopped. The United States have suffered enough from being under King George's control. America has to go out and fight even though it will be hard in the beginning. Paine uses the rhetorical strategies such as an aphoristic style and analogy.

Paine's vehement use of schemes exposes the intertwined relationship between the government and the governed, as he interjects, "Interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other and on this…depends the strength of the government, and the happiness of the governed"(par. 2). This delicate, yet critical balance of the people versus the state is what this country has been about from the very beginning of it, a place where there will not be the acted upon, but those who act, a place where choice has become the most important part of life, the very center of life itself, affecting both individuals, communities, and this nation as a whole. This catching parallel structure is also used in the final paragraph as Paine expresses: "However our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is

In The Crisis No. 1, Thomas Paine creates an objective tone to unite and rally the nation by showing what kind of man the King of Britain is. Paine achieved his goal by using a variety of rhetorical devices. He connected to the nation through the use of his

In lines 37-40 he says “... a generous parent would have said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace:””. This example puts the listener of The Crisis in a mindset that forces them to consider the future, not only for themselves, but also for their children. This helps to persuade the audience because they must reason with the idea that Paine has presented to them. To add to the idea of reasoning, Paine says in lines 43-46 “America will never be happy until she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing will break out until that period arrives, and the continent in the end must be the conqueror; for, though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal never can expire…”. This statement has a number of meanings to it. The first concept that Paine highlights is the idea of escaping from other countries. It is unlikely that Paine was scared of directing this towards Britain exclusively, so it could be concluded that this was meant towards all countries in general, and if this is the case then Paine was already trying to convince the people of America that isolationism was the route that they should be directed towards. After this point, he makes reference to liberty. During this time, America was an experimental country with freedoms and liberties that no other country had seen before, using democracy, a principle that not many countries had used. Although Paine was known for directing The Crisis

Effort and passion can be found working hand-in-hand in multiple aspects of life. While one person may have a strong passion for a sport, another person may be passionate about a certain cause. Having a passion drives a person to whole-heartedly put every ounce of effort into fulfilling the goal of their passion. Two men, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry, put all of their effort into a passion of their own. In Paine’s essay, The Crisis, No.1, the piece displays his willingness to do anything for his passion, the patriotic cause.

When the war started in the summer of 1776, the Army was doing well with the victory of Boston behind them, and with the excitement of defending Manhattan in the future, many men joined the Colonial Army. When the Americans lost New York, started to retreat through New Jersey, and the weather turned rainy, the number of men in the Colonial Army started to drop significantly. Men were deserting or waiting until their enlistments were up and then would not re-enlist (McCullough 249). These numbers dropped even farther once the weather turned poor when the rain and snow came (McCullough 81). This shows precisely what Paine meant by his second statement in The American Crisis, “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country…” All the men of the war were suffering, but the men who stuck it out even in the hardest of

Thomas Paine in the essay, ”The Crisis, Number 1” asserts that the colonists need to keep fighting the British. Pain supports his assertion by using duty/obligation, figurative language, and parallel structure. The author’s purpose is to persuade the colonists to not give up. The author writes in a motivational tone for the colonists.

When Patrick Henry said, “We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!” He uses many exclamations in his speech to come across to his audience’s emotions. In the contrer Thomas Paine comes across to his audience in a lower more relaxed way.

Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” and Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” were two texts written during a time of unrest and uncertainty among the American colonies. In these texts, both men used an array of persuasive techniques, most of which considered rhetorical devices. Although Henry used multiple metaphors and rhetorical questions to advance his purpose, Paine’s practice of rhetorical devices surpassed that of Henry’s. Paine’s text, similar to Henry’s, displays multiple rhetorical questions, appeals, and metaphors throughout his speech. All of these assist him in creating a better argument, swaying the audience to his cause.

The second way Paine structures his argument for independence from Britain is through an extended metaphor, comparing England and America to a mother and child. Through this metaphor, Paine illustrates the toxicity of the relationship to the reader in “plain” language. Abandoning technical terms and the phrases often used by higher class, educated individuals Paine keeps the metaphor plain and simple so that everyone can comprehend the message. Paine begins the metaphor by highlighting the destructive “maternal” relationship shared by the countries. “But Britain is the parent country, say some. The the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make

“But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families …” (Common Sense). Paine wants the colonists to recognize that Britain is not acting like a loving parent but rather evil because of how Britain is treating her “child”.

Pursuing this further, Paine elicits figurative diction to create a different view of why a government is unnecessary. He claims through a simile that “government, like a dress, is the badge of lost innocence,” meaning that the creation of government causes the loss of freedom and is needed to punish those that hurt society. Additionally, necessity is “like a gravitating power” and will lead to the creation of a functioning society. That government is an unnecessary addition that only arises due to humans becoming jealous of one another and needing a helping hand in maintaining peace. Within “Common Sense,” Paine molds the rhetorical strategies of parallel construction and figurative diction with an assuring tone as a method to provide the foundation for his argument that government is unnecessary for a society to

In the speech, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death!”, by Patrick Henry and in the excerpt, “Common Sense”, by Thomas Paine, rhetoric is used thoroughly. During the era of these excerpts, war was a significant matter, so Henry and Paine made these excerpts to enlighten and “boost-up” the people and make them ready for war. Both of the excerpts had the qualities to do so, but “Common Sense” uses more rhetorical devices and is more persuasive due to the language he uses, his ability to relate to the people, and showing the faults in other countries to help us realize that we are a strong country and we need to be ready to fight for it.

Paine believes that monarchies in general are “exceedingly ridiculous” as it is full of hypocrisies, and forces one to infer many impossible superiorities. For example, a king is isolated from the world, living a life very different from the average citizen, yet his job requires that he thoroughly understand what is best for these average citizens in order to most acceptably govern and judge them. Paine believes that monarchies are justifiable neither by the laws of nature, nor by the laws of God.To further his point about the ridiculousness of kings, Paine says that “...it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion…” and wars. Hereditary succession is seen as utterly unjust, as “...all men being originally equals, no one by birth