Prior to the Civil War, slavery abounded in America and caused the suffering of many unfortunate Africans, especially the slave women. In The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, author Harriet Jacobs describes the atrocities of slavery and the profound mental burden placed upon slave women. Jacobs proves that, because of their disproportionate trials and tragedies, slave women should not be judged to the same standard as others. Jacobs effectively uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in order to encourages her audience of white Northern women to speak out against slavery and help their enslaved black sisters in the South.
Throughout the book, Jacobs uses apostrophes, or direct addresses to her audience, in order to petition for their
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understanding and emphasize specific wrongs. After Jacobs describes how a young slave girl is forced into a life of sin because of her status, she asks, “Why are ye silent, ye free men and women of the north?” (22). After Jacobs describes how the evils of slavery corrupt those who are oppressed by it, she addresses the free people of the North and petitions them to speak out against these monstrosities. Jacobs’s use of direct address here is effective in making Northerners realize the effect their actions—or lack thereof—can have. By juxtaposing this call to action immediately after the story of one slave girl’s hardships, Jacobs implores her readers to realize their responsibility to fight against these wrongs. Later on, when detailing her own sufferings as a female slave, Jacobs addresses her female audience, saying, “Ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered, […] do not judge the […] slave girl too severely” (38). While describing the abuses that she has suffered at the hands of Mr. Flint, Jacobs points out the difference between how she, a black slave woman in the South, would be treated in comparison with a white Northern woman, like many of her readers. By pointing out these differences directly, Jacobs then rationalizes why the slave girl cannot be held to the same standard. If the circumstances of their lives are so contrasting, then the expectations for their actions must be different, too. Finally, in the wake of Jacobs’s affair with her white lover, she laments, “O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected” (39). After Jacobs reveals the circumstances of her affair, she asks her audience to understand that this is the result of her circumstance as a slave. Jacobs therefore elicits sympathy from her audience not only for herself, but for other slave women in similar situations to her own. Jacobs’s use of apostrophes creates a more direct communication with her audience and allows her to describe her tale as well as petition against slavery through a more intimate and immediate relationship. In various stages of the autobiography, Jacobs shows the complex relationship between slave women and religion by the slave women’s varying feelings towards God and religion.
In the beginning of the text, Jacobs describes when her mistress teaches her “the precepts of God’s word” as a child; however, even as a young girl Jacobs sees the irony that her mistress does not “recognize her as her neighbor” (7). In her early childhood, Jacobs feels excluded from religion because she is not treated as an equal by her mistress, which seems to be what the Bible instructs. This alienation from the Bible is caused by Jacobs’s treatment under slavery, which is a common theme for Jacobs’s supposed shortcomings. Later, in church, Jacobs hears a poor slave mother exclaim, “God has hid himself from me, and I am left in darkness and misery” (49). In this passage, a woman who has lost all of her children to slavery proclaims that God has hidden from her, which shows how the miseries of a slave woman’s life can separate them from God. While the Christian women of the North might have looked unfavorably upon someone saying that, this woman is excused because of the horrible circumstances she is in. At the end of the text, when worry is expressed that Jacobs’s previous affair could cause some to look at her with contempt, Jacobs replies, “God alone knows how I have suffered, and He, I trust, will forgive me” (110). Jacobs finally addresses her own sins in relation to her faith and concludes that …show more content…
the injustices she has suffered exempt her from judgement by God. If Jacobs can be forgiven by God, then she should be forgiven by everyone else, too, because of the things she has done as a slave woman. Jacobs’ use of biblical allusions is useful in appealing to a predominantly Christian audience and calling upon the bible’s themes of forgiveness and understanding to promote empathy towards slave women. Across the text, Jacobs uses ethical appeal to defend her own sins as she argues that any wrongdoing is a result of the corrupting effects of slavery.
In the middle of the text, when Jacobs’s master, Mr. Flint, insults her, she “remember[s] that but for him [she] might have been a virtuous, free, and happy wife” (41). Jacobs points out that she could have been virtuous but she was forced to choose a darker path because of her cruel master. Proving the good intentions for her life, Jacobs reminds her audience that her unfortunate decisions are because of her situation—not a flaw in her character. Later, Jacobs describes how, because of slavery, “there [is] no chance for [her] to be respectable,” (53). Jacob continues to point out that if she were a free woman, she could have had a better life. Jacobs continues to use her environment as the defense for her behavior, which further highlights that slave women, who are given one of the most unfortunate lots in life, should not be judged so harshly. At the end of the book, when Jacobs is forced to lie as a result of her situation, she excuses herself by saying, “So far as my ways have been crooked, I charge them all upon slavery” (113). Jacobs explicitly and decisively states that any wrongdoing on her part is a direct cause of slavery. If Jacobs is excused because of her position as an abused slave, then, in consideration of their circumstances, all slave women should be given greater empathy and understanding rather than
judgement. Jacobs’s use of ethical appeal not only ensures that her audience respects her, but also shows that her vices are not a fault of her own, but that of the system of slavery, and the same can be said for other slave women. Harriet Jacobs’s depiction of slavery’s effect on slave women is both graphic and moving. Perhaps her revolutionary autobiography would not be so effective without Jacobs open, authentic, and direct communication. And maybe, because of Jacobs’s honesty, her audiences were better educated on the horrors of slavery and inspired to pursue the cause of abolition. In any event, Jacobs’s groundbreaking book was a fundamental step towards our country’s rejection of slavery once and for all.
With the help of getting a well known abolitionist, this helps Jacobs’s argument for the antislavery movement. Not only she has gotten her readers to sympathize with her, but use direct language to catch the attention of her reader. She tries to point out the privileges that the white women would have compared to the women who are kept in
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,
The irony exposed in Jacobs’ writings serves to show how desperate the slaveholders are to maintain their power, and how this desperation reveals the depravity of slavery. They are fully cognizant that having the word of God on their side affords them even more power over their slaves, and they use this knowledge as a channel through which slave behavior may be controlled. “After the alarm caused by Nat Turner’s insurrection had subsided, the slaveholders came to the conclusion that it would be well to give the slaves enough religious instruction to keep them from murdering their masters” (Jacobs 57). This passage is the first to demonstrate whites using religion as an oppressive force.
In conclusion, the experiences that Jacobs and Douglass had were no different, albeit the forms of their slavery were dissimilar. Abuse is abuse no matter how you slice it the desired effect is to break the spirit of the one being abused. One cannot say that their experience was worse than another because all they have is what they’ve been through. If the eyes are the windows of the soul, then no one but the owner of those eyes can be able to perceive what they have been through and the severity of it. The most important thing to come from what they went through was that it turned these two into great minds of the generation.
It is well known that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the United States. However, what isn't as well known is the actual severity of slavery. The experiences of slave women presented by Angela Davis and the theories of black women presented by Patricia Hill Collins are evident in the life of Harriet Jacobs and show the severity of slavery for black women.
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).
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl opens with an introduction in which the author, Harriet Jacobs, states her reasons for writing an autobiography. Her story is painful, and she would rather have kept it private, but she feels that making it public may help the antislavery movement. A preface by abolitionist Lydia Maria Child makes a similar case for the book and states that the events it records are true.
Harriet Jacobs author of “Incidents of a Slave Girl” depicted the life of a women enslaved to white planation owners between the years 1819-1842. Harriet Jacobs escaped for enslavement and went on to become a pivotal figure for the African American culture with tales of cruelty from her owners and her need for freedom. Jacobs penned her story to persuade white people in the North to fight against the maltreatment of African Americans in the South. Jacobs highlighted for abolitionist and non-abolitionist alike the abuse slaves felt for many years and the obstacles they went through to secure their freedom. Harriet Jacobs asserted, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women.” In contrast to Jacobs, slavery for women did not exceed or fall below that of men. The circumstances in which the different genders were treated did show some variations, however, the effects of slavery affected both men and women equally. Slave men and women all had one common goal and that was to enjoy the freedoms and rights as human beings amongst the Caucasian counterparts. Erik Foner, author of Give me Liberty! An American History, stated, “Black sought to make white Americans understand slavery as a concrete reality—the denial of all the essential elements of freedom—not merely as a metaphor for the loss of political self-determination.” African American fought collectively with both men and women against oppression from Caucasians.
In her story Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents what life was like living as a female slave during the 19th century. Born into slavery, she exhibits, to people living in the North who thought slaves were treated fairly and well, how living as a slave, especially as a female slave during that time, was a heinous and horrible experience. Perhaps even harder than it was if one had been a male slave, as female slaves had to deal with issues, such as unwanted sexual attention, sexual victimization and for some the suffering of being separated from their children. Harriet Jacobs shows that despite all of the hardship that she struggled with, having a cause to fight for, that is trying to get your children a better life
...f Jacobs’s narrative is the sexual exploitation that she, as well as many other slave women, had to endure. Her narrative focuses on the domestic issues that faced African-American women, she even states, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women”. Therefore, gender separated the two narratives, and gave each a distinct view toward slavery.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl. 2nd Edition. Edited by Pine T. Joslyn. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, INC., 2001.
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 takes a great risk writing her trials as a house servant in the south and a fugitive in the north. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl gives a true account of the brutality slavery held for women. A perspective that was relatively secretive during Jacobs’ time. Jacobs’ narrative focuses on subjugation due to race but it also portrays many women an strong and often open roles. Women in these roles were minimal and often suffered for their outspoken roles.
For this very reason Jacobs uses the pseudonym Linda Brent to narrate her first-person experience, which I intend to use interchangeably throughout the essay, since I am referencing the same person. All throughout the narrative, Jacobs explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced on plantations as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children from the horrors of the slave trade. Jacobs’ literary efforts are addressed to white women in the North who do not fully comprehend the evils of slavery. She makes direct appeals to their humanity to expand their knowledge and influence their thoughts about slavery as an institution, holding strong to the credo that the pen is mightier than the sword and is colorful enough to make a difference and change the the stereotypes of the black and white
As female slaves such as Harriet Jacob continually were fighting to protect their self respect, and purity. Harriet Jacob in her narrative, the readers get an understanding of she was trying to rebel against her aggressive master, who sexually harassed her at young age. She wasn’t protected by the law, and the slaveholders did as they pleased and were left unpunished. Jacobs knew that the social group,who were“the white women”, would see her not as a virtuous woman but hypersexual. She states “I wanted to keep myself pure, - and I tried hard to preserve my self-respect, but I was struggling alone in the grasp of the demon slavery.” (Harriet 290)The majority of the white women seemed to criticize her, but failed to understand her conditions and she did not have the free will. She simply did not have that freedom of choice. It was the institution of slavery that failed to recognize her and give her the basic freedoms of individual rights and basic protection. Harriet Jacobs was determined to reveal to the white Americans the sexual exploitations that female slaves constantly fa...