Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life

“We live in a world where we rarely speak out and when someone does, often nobody is there to listen,” is a quote by Jaycee Dugard in her memoir A Stolen Life. Authors must be able to appeal to their readers in order for the story to be heard. While writing, they consider using multiple different tones and stylistic choices to entice an audience. In A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard utilizes a concerned tone and matter-of-fact style in order to express her emotions, provide readers with ample knowledge of her situation, and reflect on her life experiences. Jaycee Dugard never expected her childhood to be taken away. While walking to school at age eleven, she was approached by a car and snatched from the street to wake up to a strange place where

In doing so, readers will find Dugard using depictive details when talking about the room she lived in, the inappropriate ways in which Garrido treated her, and her attitude towards her “family.” She describes her frightening encounters with Garrido in tremendous details, “He stands back up and takes off all his clothes. I do not want him to do that. I start to cry. He takes my handcuffed hands and holds them over my head. I feel so helpless and vulnerable. I feel so alone. He lies on top of me. He is so heavy. I can’t stop crying,” (31). Her use of imagery enables readers to picture her situation, but the intensity in her words gives the readers a sense of agony. Although it was challenging, Dugard expresses the excruciating feelings she receives during each occurrence. Not only are readers able to grasp an understanding of her experiences, but the tension between Nancy Garrido and Dugard is easily perceivable. After Dugard has her second daughter, Nancy has troubles trying to make them more like a true family. However, Dugard is not fond of this idea. She wrote, “He says it would be a good idea to bring us all together so we can all be a family for the kids if we start calling her ‘Mom’ and referring to me as the girls’ ‘sister.’ I don’t want Nancy to feel like she is an outsider. I just don’t want to call her ‘Mom.’ I have a mom. I love and miss my mom. Doesn’t he know how hard this is for me?” (150). Her slightly forceful and concerning tone suggests that she has an unpleasant attitude towards her new “family.” As an effect of her descriptive style, readers gain knowledge of her confusing situation throughout the eighteen