Infallible: immune from error because of ties to the church or God
According to the introduction to Pillars of Salt, the Christian state was comfortable playing the role of God and revoking life. Those responsible for Morgan’s death described it not as an execution but as his life being “turn’d off” by God. The primarily Catholic idea of infallibility must have transferred over to New England, which did not have a large Catholic population. Petty and relatable crimes, like “lying, cursing, or Sabbath-breaking” were emphasized to scare people into following the infallible will of the church and state. The condemned were not allowed to convey their own messages and instead were “manipulated” to convey a message not only of fear of God, but also of hope. Some men considered themselves “agents of God’s authority” and any actions they took were distorted to show that the morals of the church were right.
Performance: a dramatic representation of events
Performances were important to the change in punishment in America. Authorities pressured the condemned into performing rituals of penitence. Criminals also gained sympathy through performance. Packer attested his innocence and used the publicity of his death to shape his identity as a caring doctor and scientist rather than a criminal. Ames was accepted by the people because of his “credible family” and outward gentility, despite his clear criminal behavior.
Hierarchy: a system of ranking and order
Although criminals could express themselves through crime narratives, they could not escape American hierarchy and had to remain within this hierarchy in their texts. People would not accept someone who defied societal rules too much. Mountain never escapes the hierarchical system, even after escaping from the ship on which he served. His race was considered very important by the public. “Refusing to accept either his base social position or the baseness of his racial character, Mountain defied the standard conceptions that shaped the lives of those who read his narrative. Yet, as readers knew all too well, it was a safe defiance; given the requirements of the genre, they knew where, when, and how his defiance would end.”