1. naturally-Powers never tries to blame his “villainous” acts on others. he believes them to be part of his character-an innate aspect of himself. “but i was naturally too much inclined to vice, to profit by his precepts of example…” “but being naturally vicious i improved my talents…” “i supposed it was because i was naturally inclined to be light-fingered…” this is contrasting to many of the other narratives we have read. he doesn’t try to find an alibi for his actions such as his lack of education or an impoverished family. rather, he creates an image for himself that an onlooker would regard as perhaps the worst kind of villain-the natural kind, a truly evil person.
2. liberty– powers is always in search of liberty or freedom. “with the help of two of my companions we broke goal after three hours hard work.” this depiction of liberty in this narrative goes back to our earlier discussions of how prisons, although a more humane form of punishment, punishes a person by depriving them of their liberty. powers is obviously, whether consciously or subconsciously, keen to the idea of how valuable liberty is. “i sawed off my pinions across the grates of the prison; and with the help of a knife, got a piece of board, with which i pryed off the grate. i then went to work to cut up my blanket, into strips, tying them together from the grate, i descended from the upper loft.” the extent to which power goes to attain his freedom is indicative of how valuable a luxury freedom and liberty is to a person.
3. donor-this is by far the first time the idea of donating has been addressed in any narrative. this is interesting because the criminal’s worth is so belittled in a community due to their acts and accusation of crime. they are seen, until conversion, and then only by the ministers who have invested so much time in the conversion, as worthless, less valuable than an innocent person within the community. this is even true of today.. however, in powers’ case, his physical body became of actual monetary value. the criminal became of value to society.