Incidents in the life of a slave girl

Chelsey Wilkins


Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl


The narrative recalls the unfortunate events that occurred in the life of a slave girl. Linda was born into slavery but unlike some other slaves, she was lucky enough to be raised in a family that didn’t really make it obvious that they were slaves. The book could almost be called an autobiography on account of she wrote these events as they occurred in her life. The story appeals to the rhetoric triangle starting with pathos.

To begin with, the story appeals to ethos. Linda is a reliable source because she writes about these events as they happened to her during her life... Early in the first chapter, she mentions she was born a slave and told us about how her parents worked for a mistress, when you consider credibility that’s better to tell you about an experience then someone who has not only seen it happen but been a part of it. For instance, Linda tells story about how even her grandmother belonged to a mistress, and how her father would pay his mistress two-hundred dollars on top of his work to keep his children, shows the credibility is accurate.

Pathos was expressed distinctly in the story. Linda shows emotions when her mother dies. She says, “Who’s going to take care of me,” which shows that most likely Linda and her mother had a really close relationship. Not to mention her feeling of emptiness when her mother, father, friend, and mistress had all died. Quotes such as “how earnestly I had prayed” showed the definite need for her family in her life and the future pain she would suffer without them. . Besides Linda, her grandmother also showed a lot of emotion toward the work she did. Her grandmother had passion and dedication to being a well respected person and also a good servant.

Lastly, diction describing Lind’s grandmother stood out to me. From the text, I assumed that Linda admired her grandmother. While speaking of her grandmother, she didn’t use negative words, but words of admiration. For example, Linda said the fellow neighbors all knew of her grandmother because she was a loyal servant or even how her grandmother always stood outside by the sidewalk waiting to give her granddaughter food symbolizes her dedication to her family and Linda’s admiration for that reason.

To conclude, credibility is a significant factor to a good story. Linda Marie Childs wrote a book about her life as a child including all the deaths she had to face and the cruel masters and mistresses. Luckily, Linda was able to look at the admirable actions of her grandmother and was enslaved by her family. Numerous accounts of pathos and ethos were shown in the story.