Robbery- Wall is unique because she is the only woman whose narrative involves highway robbery (or stealing of any kind.) Most of the women’s narratives have to do with affairs and killing their children to avoid shame. It seems odd that she wants to warn youth, but “especially those of my sex” since her crime, at least as far as we know from the narratives, was rare.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness- Wall manipulates the usual tradition of pressuring criminals, before their executions, to forgive the people that condemned them. Wall says that she is innocent and that “the witnesses who swore against me are surely mistaken, but as a dying person I freely forgive them. This forgiveness and her generosity in “believing” that the witnesses against her were mistaken rather than lying gives her an air of moral superiority and piety that she surely planned.<\/p>\n
Curious- Wall seems to be acting for an audience, the “ever-curious public,” who, she says, “will be anxious to know every particular circumstance of the life and character of a person in my unhappy situation.”\u00c2\u00a0 Despite her certain guilt as a thief, she manages to play the martyr.\u00c2\u00a0 She knows how to work the nosy crowd, but her performances seem like a waste of time because winning over the crowd won’t stop her execution.\u00c2\u00a0 She throws in an exoneration of a cripple woman, tools for escaping from jail baked into bread, and other pop favorites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Robbery- Wall is unique because she is the only woman whose narrative involves highway robbery (or stealing of any kind.) Most of the women’s narratives have to do with affairs and killing their children to avoid shame. It seems odd … Continue reading