Thomas Paine The Crisis Analysis

The revolution was a time of violence in which the colonist of England had to abrogate the chokehold of the king’s mangling power. In order to sustain the colonist’s motivation for independence, persuasive tactics had to be put forth to maintain the strong colonist army in order to break free from tyranny and claim freedom. In “The Crisis” Paine employs analogy, aphorisms, and parallelism to buttress the colonist’s needs to stay motivated throughout this cruel and acerbic revolution.
Paine uses analogy to reinforce England as without God in order to persuade soldiers on the battlefield and patriots at home to continue to fight for freedom. The occurrences of analogy he uses portray a profound anathema towards England’s providence. For instance …show more content…
Pain coaxes the colonist with honesty by explaining that “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.” which means that defeating the British or winning any battle in general is not easy. This aphorism is persuasive because it shows the idea that the fight against Britain will not be easy, but is still manageable. This provides thin slivers of hope in the chances that if they continue to fight for freedom they will be free. It takes strength and courage to overcome such circumstances that may result in failure such as death from treason as explained by Paine that “[this is] the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” This means those who know what they want and have a clear goal in mind, will be the most successful when they encounter challenges in life such as this revolution. This is persuasive because it tells the colonist that as long as they have their eyes on the prize of freedom from Britain, they will be successful in their mission. By using aphorisms, Paine encourages the soldiers that the struggle is worth the cost by appealing to their emotions and ensuring that the harder the work toward the goal, the more rewarding it will feel in the end, …show more content…
For instance Paine calls “not upon a few, but upon all.” which supports his need to encourage as many as possible to fight. This is persuasive because it appeals to the people’s ethics; there is no other option, if they want their freedom to be secured they must join the fight. He connects the need of supporters by stating that it is everyone’s responsibility to partake in the making of America by including “The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, [and that we will all] suffer and rejoice alike.” This means that no matter who you are or where you are from you can help support the colonists’ movement. This is persuasive because it encourages the people from all different walks of life to come join the movement for this will open doors to future generations to come as well as new and equal opportunities for everyone associated. Parallelism is used to reinforce the idea that fighting for freedom is the responsibility of every American because Paine makes it clear he wants everyone to join the fight no matter where they come from or who they are and that every colonist helps.
Through persuasive techniques such as analogies to convince the soldier’s that God is for America and the devil is with England and to fight for America instead, aphorisms to encourage the soldiers that the struggle