Throughout the reading Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, she constantly uses you or reader to try and relate to you personally and let the reader know that she is trying to speak to you directly. This is clearly shown when she says “ And now reader, I come to a period in my unhappy life, which I would gladly forget if I could.” The way she also speaks to the reader she is trying to make you feel sympathy for her. “It pains me to tell you of it…” or when she says “Pity me and pardon me, O virtuous reader.” She tells you what she is thinking and tells worrisome stories about her thoughts and what is going on in her life so you sympathize for her. I believe her audience was white women particularly from the North because women or just people in general in the South would not sympathize as easily with her because they are slave owners and that is how they are raised. The point where I really realized she was trying to reach out to people so that they would feel bad for her was when she bluntly says “you never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom…” She is obviously speaking directly to you at this point almost like you are having a conversation with her in person and she is telling you her story. The way the writing is she could have women feel bad for her because she also talks about having children and how he sends them away so they aren’t near him or his wife. That point of children really targets women because we are most attached to our children so this point also makes the reader feel more bad for her life. There are many different incidents when she says “you” to let you know she is speaking to you directly and telling you her personal story.
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