“O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave…” (Jacobs 49)
It is rare for an author to directly address their audience, even more uncommon for them to establish characteristics for an unknown person. General conventions of writing suggest that first and third person is for the narrative form while the secondary “you”, the address to the audience, is typically left out. However, Harriet Jacobs, in her autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, issues repeated statements to the “reader”, often referring to them as “you”. Given the nature of slave narratives, which were often used as propaganda for abolitionist agendas, the leap to second-person was not necessarily so great for Jacobs. Introductions or letters written
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In the preface, the first sentence of the autobiography— “Reader, be assured this narrative is no fiction.”—immediately associates these appeals to attempts to define the work as “strictly true” (2). Although the violence she depicts in her autobiography might feel excessive to the reader, she assures them that she draws “no imaginary pictures of southern homes” (33). Her appeals bring attention to the difference between the realities of slavery and the vision Northern white women have come to believe. In fact, Jacobs tells the reader that the cruelties of slavery are “greater than you would willingly believe” (26). The key word here is “willingly”. Jacobs knows, that despite the reader being a Northern white woman, and (probably) a progressive abolitionist, even they cannot handle the truth without constant direct assurances that those cruelties are lived experiences. Like the introductory letters from white abolitionists, Jacobs uses these appeals to assert the validity of her story and gain the reader’s trust. She knows that it is something that must be carefully won over because people often questioned the authenticity of slave narratives, particularly those of …show more content…
Her conversation with the reader represent attempts to arouse sympathy for black women by drawing on the shared experience of womanhood and motherhood while emphasizing the contrast between a free and enslaved life. She juxtaposes “O, you happy free women” with “poor bond-woman” and reminds the reader that her child is hers, that “no hand but that of death can take them from [her]” (16). Offering the grim image of a child’s death forces the reader to confront the horror of having a child unwillingly stolen from her, a reality, like a premature death, few would contemplate as frequently as a slave mother. The imagery of a child torn from a mother, with “irons upon his wrists”, repeats throughout the narrative to prompt the reader to conclude that “slavery is damnable” (23). However, as much as she wishes the reader to identify with a slave mother, she acknowledges that she cannot. When Jacobs reunites with her son, she suggests that the Northern woman cannot understand the depth of her joy (142) and she reminds the reader that “if you have never been a slave, you cannot imagine the acute sensation of suffering at my heart” (160). Jacobs, therefore, utilizes these conversations to assert the magnitude of the slave mother’s suffering, first by engaging the reader’s empathy through shared motherhood, second by engaging her sympathy of imagined
In Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, personal accounts that detail the ins-and-outs of the system of slavery show readers truly how monstrous and oppressive slavery is. Families are torn apart, lives are ruined, and slaves are tortured both physically and mentally. The white slaveholders of the South manipulate and take advantage of their slaves at every possible occasion. Nothing is left untouched by the gnarled claws of slavery: even God and religion become tainted. As Jacobs’ account reveals, whites control the religious institutions of the South, and in doing so, forge religion as a tool used to perpetuate slavery, the very system it ought to condemn. The irony exposed in Jacobs’ writings serves to show
Jacobs, Harriet, and Yellin, Jean. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
A recurring theme in, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is Harriet Jacobs's reflections on what slavery meant to her as well as all women in bondage. Continuously, Jacobs expresses her deep hatred of slavery, and all of its implications. She dreads such an institution so much that she sometimes regards death as a better alternative than a life in bondage. For Harriet, slavery was different than many African Americans. She did not spend her life harvesting cotton on a large plantation. She was not flogged and beaten regularly like many slaves. She was not actively kept from illiteracy. Actually, Harriet always was treated relatively well. She performed most of her work inside and was rarely ever punished, at the request of her licentious master. Furthermore, she was taught to read and sew, and to perform other tasks associated with a ?ladies? work. Outwardly, it appeared that Harriet had it pretty good, in light of what many slaves had succumbed to. However, Ironically Harriet believes these fortunes were actually her curse. The fact that she was well kept and light skinned as well as being attractive lead to her victimization as a sexual object. Consequently, Harriet became a prospective concubine for Dr. Norcom. She points out that life under slavery was as bad as any slave could hope for. Harriet talks about her life as slave by saying, ?You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of chattel, entirely subject to the will of another.? (Jacobs p. 55).
numerous types of themes. Much of the work concentrates on the underlining ideas beneath the stories. In the narratives, fugitives and ex-slaves appealed to the humanity they shared with their readers during these times, men being lynched and marked all over and women being the subject of grueling rapes. "The slave narrative of Frederick Douglas" and "Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" themes come from the existence of the slaves morality that they are forced compromise to live. Both narrators show slave narratives in the point of view of both "men and women slaves that had to deal with physical, mental, and moral abuse during the times of slavery." (Lee 44)
Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is a powerful statement unveiling the impossibility and undesirability of achieving the ideal put forth by men and maintained by women. Jacobs directs her account of the afflictions a woman is subjected to in the chain of slavery to women of the north to gain sympathy for their sisters that were enslaved in the south. In showing this, Jacobs reveals the danger of such self disapprobation women maintained by accepting the idealized role that men have set a goal for which to strive. She suggests that slave women be judged by different standards than those applied to other women. Jacobs develops a moral code that apprises the specific social and historical position of captive black women. Jacobs’ will power and strength shown in her narrative are characteristics of womanly behavior being developed by the emerging feminist movement.
Morrison’s authorship elucidates the conditions of motherhood showing how black women’s existence is warped by severing conditions of slavery. In this novel, it becomes apparent how in a patriarchal society a woman can feel guilty when choosing interests, career and self-development before motherhood. The sacrifice that has to be made by a mother is evident and natural, but equality in a relationship means shared responsibility and with that, the sacrifices are less on both part. Although motherhood can be a wonderful experience many women fear it in view of the tamming of the other and the obligation that eventually lies on the mother. Training alludes to how the female is situated in the home and how the nurturing of the child and additional local errands has now turned into her circle and obligation. This is exactly the situation for Sethe in Morrison’s Beloved. Sethe questions the very conventions of maternal narrative. A runaway slave of the later half of 19th century, she possesses a world in which “good mothering” is extremely valued, but only for a certain class of women: white, wealthy, outsourcing. Sethe’s role is to be aloof: deliver flesh, produce milk, but no matter what happens, she cannot love. During the short space of time (which is 28 days) Sethe embraces the dominant values of idealised maternity. Sethe’s fantasy is intended to end upon recover, however, it doesn’t, on that ground she declines to give her family a chance to be taken from her. Rather she endeavours to murder each of her four kids, prevailing the young girl whom she named Beloved. Sethe’s passion opposes the slave proprietor’s- and the western plot line's endeavours at allocations, for better or in negative ways. It iwas an act arranged in the space between self-attestation and selflessness, where Sethe has taken what is humane and protected it
Slave narratives were one of the first forms of African- American literature. The narratives were written with the intent to inform those who weren’t aware of the hardships of slavery about how badly slaves were being treated. The people who wrote these narratives experienced slavery first hand, and wanted to elicit the help of abolitionists to bring an end to it. Most slave narratives were not widely publicized and often got overlooked as the years went by; however, some were highly regarded and paved the way for many writers of African descent today.
Slavery in the middle of the 19th century was well known by every American in the country, but despite the acknowledgment of slavery the average citizen did not realize the severity of the lifestyle of the slave before slave narratives began to arise. In Incidents in the life of a slave girl, Harriet Jacobs uses an explicit tone to argue the general life of slave compared to a free person, as well as the hardships one endured on one’s path to freedom. Jacobs fought hard in order to expand the abolitionist movement with her narrative. She was able to draw in the readers by elements of slave culture that helped the slaves endure the hardships like religion and leisure and the middle class ideals of the women being “submissive, past, domestic,
Harriett Jacobs is a woman who lived in the nineteenth century. She wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl based upon her own life. The character that was representing her in the novel was Linda Brent. She was a woman who was well educated and lived as a young child comfortably, in consideration for her being a slave, but then her life took an unexpected turn when her kind mistress died and no one to protect her from the harsh crimes of the world she was about to endeavor. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl uses many classic elements of sentimental novels throughout Jacobs’s autobiography but she did not stay within the boundaries of a pure sentimental novel by opening up and telling the readers about her life in pure honesty.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
This passage from Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, functions as a preface or disclaimer to Jacobs’ account of her relationship with Mr. Sands, a white man interested in her. Here, and in the subsequent passages, Jacobs’ purpose is twofold: to plead for her readers’ understanding, and to take ownership of her actions. Jacobs is sure to make it clear that she entered into this relationship with “deliberate calculation” (69). That is to say, for Jacobs the decision wasn’t a matter of “compulsion from a master” nor was it the result of “ignorance or thoughtlessness,” (69) as although she was young, growing up under slavery already stole her innocence “concerning the evils of the world” (69). Rather, the decision was just that: a
This essay seeks to deconstruct the word “virtuous” as it is used in Jacobs’s work and how the use of that word helps her appeal to white northern women and call them to act for her enslaved female fellows. A close examination of the word reveals that it both literally highlights the white woman’s freedom from sexual violence and builds on Jacob’s subtle critique of Northerners’ role in the oppression of black
In “The Trial of Girlhood” and “A Perilous Passage In the Slave Girl’s Life” Jacobs’s narrative emphasizes the problems that are faced by female slaves. She shares the sexual abuses that are commonly practiced by slave master against young female slaves. She does this through revealing the unique humiliation and the brutalities that were inflicted upon young slave girls. In this narrative we come to understand the psychological damage caused by sexual harassment. We also realize how this sexual harassment done by the slaveholders went against morality and “violated the most sacred commandment of nature,”(Harriet 289)as well as fundamental religious beliefs.
In this essay I intend to delve into the representation of family in the slave narrative, focusing on Frederick Douglas’ ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave’ and Harriet Jacobs ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.’ Slave narratives are biographical and autobiographical stories of freedom either written or told by former slaves. The majority of them were ‘told to’ accounts written with the aid of abolitionist editors between 1830 and 1865. An amount of narratives were written entirely by the author and are referred to as authentic autobiographies. The first of more than six thousand extant slave narratives were published in 1703. Primarily written as propaganda, the narratives served as important weapons in the warfare against slavery. Slave narratives can be considered as a literary genre for a number of reasons. They are united by the common purpose of pointing out the evils of slavery and attacking the notion of black inferiority. In the narratives, you can find simple and often dramatic accounts of personal experience, strong revelation of the char...
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s