Christian Rhetoric in Mary Prince's Story by Mary Prince and Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen It is true, perhaps, that women are the subset of humanity whose rights were those who had been stripped of them the longest and who had suffered the worst abuses and for the longest time. Even today, many people believe that women still do not have the equality that should be afforded to them. Ever since women began taking steps to move closer to that ideal of equality, they have used various means, including literature, to advance their cause. Both Mary Prince's The History of Mary Prince and Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen use the language of Christian rhetoric to simultaneously represent their characters and themselves as sinners, redeemed, and righteous, as well as depicting the journey of redemption between 'one and the other. . This subconscious formulation generates communion in their readers, who can identify with the story of the redeemed and who exist in a predominantly moral and Christian society. The use of Christian rhetoric as a means of instilling empathy in the reader is first evident in the specific language of the texts. The author's choice of words subtly highlights Christian ideals with direct relevance to the author and the character himself. For example, Prince recalls a time when white slave owners demolished the slaves' prayer shed, saying, "A flood came down soon after and swept away many houses, filled the place with sand, and caused the ponds to overflow: and I think this was because of their wickedness; for the Buckra men were very wicked” (Prince 19). Prince's use of the word wickedness here implies some sort of connection with Christianity which might fit in the place of "wic...... middle of paper ...... to see the writer's work as in tune with Christian ideals and ideology, thus establishing, in the reader's mind, a deepened connection between the writer and his cause and what the reader perceives, most likely, as moral and good. This is especially true in Mary Prince's The History of Mary Prince, as well as Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen, both of which use Christian rhetoric in a subconscious, literal, and, in Prince's case, plot-oriented way. This causes their respective audiences to see them and their causes, through their characters, as righteous, therefore successfully fulfilling the purpose of using such language. Works Cited Emecheta, Buchi. Second class citizen. New York: G. Braziller, 1975. Print. Prince, Mary. The Story of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave Narrative. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2004. Print.