Sojourner Truth's speech, "Ain't I a Woman?" incorporates and exhibits many traits of not only Realism, but of the subgenre of Regionalism as well. From what the reader may infer, the speech is given from Truth's porch or something similar to a group of onlooking children of the community, Truth basically talks about the hypocrisy exhibited by white men especially and her plight of womanhood. In this work, she addresses social issues of the time, human nature, and she incorporates her home region of the South to convey her speech which all allow the sork to fall under the genre of Realism (Anderson). The part of her southern personality influencing her speech and her specificity of addressing mainly African American women is why this work is more specifically characterized under Regionalism (Quinn).
The most important social issue of her time in which she speaks about is the unfair treatment towards women. It is not necessarily that they are being treated more cruelly than African American men, but she believes that they should be treated like white women. She states that the white men say that women, they do not specify only white women, should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. Truth's point is that she is in fact a woman, but no chivalry is done towards her such as helping her over a mud puddle (Truth 370). Truth says all of this in her own sort of way of speaking. It is certainly not a round-a-bout way of saying things because she gets right to the point and stays there in this rant of hers. Also, she uses much southern vernacular such as "ain't, and 'cause" (Truth 370). This lets the reader know just how she is speaking. Regionalism is almost solely based on the culture of a region (Quinn), and Truth exemplifies it of a southern woman. The fact that she is specifically addressing African American women of the region with her unfair treatment attribute to the Regionalistic aspect of the work as well (Anderson).
The historical context of this writing puts a more "real" feel to the story. As an early part of Realism, written in 1851, the impact of the Civil War had not even begun, and literature by the writers of the just emerging Realism movement had not began experiencing that sort of melancholy and somber feel (Truth 370). This is very apparent in Truth's Realistic writing because she is really anything but melancholy and somber. Her way of speaking the truth is to convey it in an emotional and powerful manner.
From a perspective of society of the time, this speech is very representative of the common African American "literature. The majority of the slaves were not literate, and therefore, all words and stories were spoken. Although Truth is not telling a story of any kind, it was very characteristic of the time for people, especially children, to gather round and hear someone speak. This fact includes both Realism and Regionalism because this was more common in the South other than anywhere else, and this occurred frequently in any speech from the Realism era (Quinn).
Anderson, George P., Judith S. Baughman, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and Carl Rollyson, eds."regionalism." Encyclopedia of American Literature: Into the Modern: 1896–1945, vol. 3, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Online. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1330&SingleRecord=True. February 13, 2011.
Quinn, Edward. "realism and naturalism in American literature." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Online. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gfflithem0707&SingleRecord=True. February 13, 2011.
Truth, Sojourner. "And Ain't I a Woman." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg. 370.
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