Lizzie Borden Character Analysis

“Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one” (Miller introduction). This horrific song was derived from the famous murder case in 1892. The victims, Andrew and Abby Borden, were murdered in their home on the fourth of August. The suspect, their own daughter, Lizzie Borden. For the duration of her trial Lizzie Borden was seen as a bane, a murderer, and would be treated like one for the rest of her life. Sarah Miller recognized the wrong in this and aspired to give Lizzie another chance to clear her name by giving nothing but the facts about the case since, during her trial, evidence was left out or overlooked. In her book “The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the

Miller organized her book with the idea in her head of recreating the whole case. She makes the main idea for each section become the chapters’ names. Miller stars the book off with the discovery of Mr. Borden, labeling the chapter “murder!” (1). This allows for the reader to know beforehand that the whole section is going to be solely about the murders. This effectively used technique of logos allows for her goal of giving both sides equal chance to take place. Having all of her information laid out logically helps the readers understand and follow along with her goal. A second way that she logically organizes her information is in the chapter “Trial of the Century”. During this section of the book, Miller categorizes her information even more so. She does this by individually describing each day of the trial, marking when a new day has begun such as “Day One Monday, June 5, 1893” (161). Doing this helps the readers see what she wants them to notice about each of the days. By so precisely dividing up her information, it makes the readers very capable in understanding each of the important details she makes sure to mention in her