-Warning- Rachel’s first mention of warning is to her husband, who “enticed me to leave my service and take to bad company” (284). Although she says that she forgives him, she hopes that her “unhappy fate will be a solemn warning to him” (284). She continues to say that “I hope my awful and untimely fate will be a solemn warning and caution to everyone, but more particularly to the youth, especially those of my own sex” (284).
Guilt- Rachel Wall is the first person to express innocence of the crime for which she is being executed (unless we want to count Levi Ames’ assertion that he was let into a house, not the one who first broke in). She confesses to other crimes, all some sort of theft, but still maintains that she is innocent of what she is being executed for. She states, though, that God with ultimately judge the truth of the statement she is making.
Education- Like many narratives, Rachel Wall’s starts out with her upbringing—how her parents treated her, what they did, and whether they attempted to make her a good honest person. She says that they “gave me a good education, and instructed in me in the fundamental principles of the Christian religion” (283). Wall blames her descent into crime on her husband, not her parents, but it appears that all of the narratives we’ve read have blamed it on someone.