Christian Rhetoric in The Story of Mary Prince by Mary Prince and Second-Class Citizen by Buchi EmechetaIt may be true that women are the under all of humanity whose rights have been those which have been stripped the longest and who have been mistreated the most and for the longest time. Even today, many people believe that women still do not benefit from the equality that should be granted to them. Since women began taking steps to move closer to this ideal equality, they have used various means, including literature, to advance their cause. Mary Prince's The Story of Mary Prince, as well as Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen, use the language of Christian rhetoric to simultaneously present their characters and themselves as sinners, redeemed, and righteous, as well as to describe the journey of redemption between one and the other. . This subconscious phrasing engenders camaraderie 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 evident above all in the specific language of the texts. The author's choice of words subtly highlights Christian ideals that relate directly to the author and the character himself. For example, Prince recalls a time when white slave owners tore down the slaves' prayer shed, saying, "A flood came soon after and swept away many houses, filled the place with sand and caused the ponds to overflow: and I think it was because of their wickedness; for the men of Buckra were very wicked” (Prince 19). Prince's use of the word wickedness here implies some sort of connection to Christianity. There is a vast range of words that could replace "wic"....... middle of paper ... to consider the writer's work as being in line 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-driven way. This causes their respective audiences to view them and their causes, through their characters, as righteous, thus 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, New York: Dover Publications, 2004. Print.