Abigail Adams is writing to her son John Quincy Adams, who is traveling abroad with his father, John Adams, a United States diplomat and later the country’s second president. Through her use of the rhetorical strategies such as analogy, logos and pathos, Abigail Adams drives the point to her son that in order to benefit from this trip and to make it valuable, he must position himself in places where he can obtain as much information as possible from his father and other political leaders that he will be exposed to in his travels. Mrs. Adams, living back in America, knows the war is coming to a conclusion and that the future of the new country may involve her smart and political husband to be of great importance in the government. Furthermore, …show more content…
Examples of logos are abundant, but an important example is when Mrs. Adams says to her son that, “as [he] increases in years, [he] will find [his] understanding opening and daily improving,” because this is blatant logic that is seen everywhere and known by everyone; that as you grow older you are gaining knowledge and becoming a wiser and more practical man. Just as Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird grows older and more mature, she learns the truth about Boo Radley, and the fact that he is not as the town portrays him to be. But Scout does not learn the truth just by growing older; and neither will John Quincy Adams. He must use what his mother tells him, that, “Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure;” meaning he cannot just grow older and gain knowledge and wisdom, he must use experience to gain them both. Just like a tree or plant produces its fruit, experience produces wisdom. John Quincy Adams’s mom wants him to understand this and to immerse himself in situations in which he can gain experience from, because this will lead to his attainment of wisdom. This is evidence of more logos backing up the first statement that as you age, you gain wisdom. Because as true as that is, it would not be true without experience, which enhances and further expands your wisdom. The rhetorical strategy logos additionally pushes Mrs. Adams’ point that her son will gain nothing from this trip if he does not obtain information and insert himself into positions where he has the ability to do