In 1847 Eliza Stacey, a frontier farmer's wife in Canada, wrote to Edward Stacey, her father-in-law back in England. Her father-in-law had previously helped her husband, George, when he had fallen into debt. Read the letter carefully. Then write an essay in which you explain how Eliza Stacey's letter functions rhetorically as an attempt to persuade her father-in-law to help her family once more.

In the letter Eliza Stacey’s wrote to her father in law, she uses an appeal to his emotions so as to convince him to help in the payment of her husband’s debt. Eliza also utilizes pleading, pitiful diction and a tone which conveys the helplessness of her situations.

By bringing attention to the hardships through these strategies, the father-in-law will feel concerned and sympathetic towards her and her family. Her use of emotional appeal is also noticeable when she mentions her pregnancy. She explained that with her husband in jail two weeks before she will give birth, her pain “can change to travail” and continues to vent about the fear of delivering the baby without the presence of her husband, and also said how can she survive without her husband? She is clearly giving her father in law reasons to help them.