Question

Which two sentences in this excerpt from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl demonstrate how Harriet Ann Jacobs uses a narrative structure and conversational tone to directly appeal to her readers’ sympathy? With all these thoughts revolving in my mind, and seeing no other way of escaping the doom I so much dreaded, I made a headlong plunge. Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another.You never exhausted your ingenuity in avoiding the snares, and eluding the power of a hated tyrant; you never shuddered at the sound of his footsteps, and trembled within hearing of his voice. I know I did wrong. No one can feel it more sensibly than I do. The painful and humiliating memory will haunt me to my dying day.Still, in looking back, calmly, on the events of my life, I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others.

Answer 1

Answer: "Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what is to be a slave"

Explanation: PLATO

Answer 2

In this excerpt from "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Ann Jacobs the two sentences that shown the use of a narrative structure and conversational tone that intends to appeal to the readers' sympathy are 1. "Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what is to be a slave", in this sentence the narrator is speaking directly to the reader and besides that the narrator invites the reader to consider the character position as a slave by remarking the reader might not understand completely what the character is facing, thus, through this first sentence the narrator is attempting to appeal to the readers' sympathy trying to evoke empathy feelings on the reader through the position of the character and the apology by the narrator. The second sentence is "You never exhausted your ingenuity in avoiding the snares, and eluding the power of a hated tyrant...", in this line the narrator continues appealing to the reader's sympathy by explaining the differences between the main character and the reader itself and thus inviting the reader to reflect about it and probably making the reader feel pity about the main character of the story.