In spite of myself, i was carried downstairs and tied fast in a chair. i cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until i felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. then i lost my spirit. since the day i was taken from my mother i had suffered extreme indignities.
what does zitkala-ša use in this passage as evidence of her mistreatment?
a. a descriptive example
b. a formal tone
c. a series of statistics
d. a visual image

D) A visual image.

Explanation: Imagery is a literary device that consists in the use of figurative language or detailed descriptions in order to evoke the senses of the reader and to create a mental picture. In the given passage Zitkala-Sa uses a visual image (imagery that evokes the sense of sight) as evidence of her mistreatment, we can see that in phrases like "I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until i felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck."

the third paragraph is your answer,

"but, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. it is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us— that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under god, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. "