In her letter to her son, Abigail Adams describes the benefits the trip could reap. The passage persuades her son to see the benefits of his adventure as evidenced by her comparison and reference to heroes of the past and present. In the letter, hoping to encourage her son to value his journey, Adams compares a traveler to a river. An author, whom she met with, describes the comparison as “running through rich veins of minerals, improving their qualities as they pass along”. Adams mentions the author’s remark as a means of backing up her encouragement with a credible source. The comparison is referencing that idea that if one continues to travel and experience more then they will grow rich with knowledge. Adams is explaining that he could learn things on the trip that he might not at home and thus he should make the most of his trip.…show more content… In her reference to Cicero, she intends to build up her words of encouragement by describing that Cicero would not “have shone so distinguished an orator if” he had not had difficulties. Abigail Adams directs the reference towards her son as a means of explaining how the hardships of this trip could be beneficial. She is pointing out that if Cicero had had had hardships, difficulties and failures, then he wouldn’t have been as good an orator because he would not have learned from his experiences. She also references this as a means of describing how fortunate he is to have this experience to grow from. Her words are meant to overall encourage him to continue on his trip and to see the good it could
