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Abstract
Edna Ferber's writing participates in the rhetorical tradition of the American jeremiad. From her early Emma McChesney stories to her later bestselling novels like Giant, Ferber followed in the footsteps laid by other Jeremiahs, who believed that America not only provided the opportunity to establish a model republic but also risked losing it because of its failure to adhere to its mission. Time and again, Ferber showcased the ways in which her countrymen were betraying the American way, highlighting the inequalities infecting our culture in order to call for reform. Like other American writers working within the rhetorical tradition of the American jeremiad, she desperately wanted America to realize her ideals, not just promise them. Thus, she used her writing to campaign for a truly equalitarian society. As her works indicate, when she saw a group being marginalized, she sought to bring it into the mainstream. It is thus no surprise that she championed the rights of women, Jews, Native Americans and Latinos.