46 pages • 1 hour read
Death Row
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Important Quotes
“I will be executed by lethal injection in two weeks. And last, I am innocent. I didn’t kill my husband.”
(Prologue, Page 6)
Talia introduces herself and her plight in the opening lines of the text. The assertion she makes orients the reader as it establishes her perspective: She maintains her innocence, and her story will unfold from this assertion. While Talia insists upon her innocence, the reader does not yet know whether Talia is a reliable narrator, therefore leaving room for the possibility that the truth is yet to come out.
“It’s entirely possible that being on death row is worse than death.”
(Chapter 1, Page 7)
As Talia orients the reader to life on death row, she makes the hyperbolic statement that death row is possibly worse than death. Writers often use hyperbole for dramatic effect, and here readers gain insight into how Talia’s experience on death row has shaped her outlook. Talia understands that no one can possibly know whether death row is worse than death, but the extreme nature of her statement illustrates how desperate she is to escape from death row, invoking The Ethics of Capital Punishment.
