imary audience is people who are close to him in spirit and blood though not in miles his parents. Frethorne, portrays himself as a child, and positions himself as lower or less than his parents. He writes, "my most humble duty remembered to you," and he begs them to send food. "And indeed so I find it now, to my great grief and misery; and saith that if you love me you will redeem me suddenly, for which I do entreat and beg." He is starving and desperate and reaches out to his parents to "have mercy and pity his miserable case." Frethorne positions himself in this way so his parents will understand his position. He writes, "I have nothing to comfort me, nor there is nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death." They have no other points of reference as to his condition other than his letter and it is quite possible that Frethorne has claimed his condition to be worse than it actually is.In addition to his parents, Frethorne had an intended secondary audience. He writes that he is desperate for food and drink. "I never (eat) anything but peas and loblollie," he writes. His intended secondary audience is any person who reads his letter and is able to help him.It seems that Frethorne believes his secondary audience to be English. The present-day reader can suppose that this is his secondary audience because of the content of his. His letter begs for the comforts of England: the warmth, food and drink and less grueling labor. He laments, "I am not a half a quarter so strong as I was in England," and, "people cry out day and night -‹Oh! that they were in England without their limb s‹and would not care to lose any limb to be in England again." Frethorne writes patriotically of England for this reason: he hopes to convince the people in England to aid him. He writes in such a way to make the reader take note of how good it is to be in England, and to understand make them understand that he is a good Englishman. Frethorn...
