Jacobs Narrative Analysis

The narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas were nothing short of powerful as their unique resilience reflected a gruesome upbringing that would then influence audiences everywhere. Immediately the reader is introduced to the gendered distinctions in narratives as Douglas has letters and statements of prominent men reinforce the validity of his work while Jacobs is forced to create a pleading tone for acknowledgement of her experience as a female slave. Although slavery was an excruciating experience that unjustly plagued millions of African Americans, gender roles and constructs allowed for distinct offenses that forced women to experience unique abuse relative to their male counterparts. The narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas reinforced the trials of slavery with examples of educational hardship, physical trauma and differing aspirations of freedom. These factors and a few others such as motherhood and masculinity influenced their legacy in context of slavery as a gendered experience.

Jacobs bravely tells her story about escaping slavery with her children. She was the first writer to show the grisly details of slavery and discuss sexual abuse. Jacobs criticizes herself for getting pregnant to get out of the sexual abusive relationship of her slave owner by saying “I felt as if I was forsaken by God and man; as if all my efforts must be frustrated; and I became reckless in my despair” (Jacobs 2194). Jacobs had to hide for almost seven years in her grandmother’s attic in attempt to gain her and her children’s freedom from their former slave-owners (Yellin 2185). In 1852, Mrs. Willis, a family friend, bought Jacobs freedom, for which Jacobs felt “I was robbed of my victory” because she considered herself a person, unable to be bought or sold (Yellin 2185). Harriet Ann Jacobs publishes her story to open people’s eyes to what slavery really was.

Finally, Jacobs's narrative is distinguished by its sharp, specific focus on the sexual exploitation of slave women. Other narrators had touched on this issue to be sure, but none had explored it with the depth and passion of Jacobs. In this regard, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was a political effort designed specifically to help ameliorate the condition of black women in slavery. To achieve this end, Jacobs had to break deliberately with the genteel Victorian literary and

Men and Women’s treatment has been different as long as the two have been around to notice the difference. Even in the realm of slavery women and men were not treated the same although both were treated in horrible ways. Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass’ story is very similar both were born into slavery and later rose above the oppression to become molders of minds. In time of subjugation to African Americans these two writers rose up and did great things especially with their writing. Both Douglass and Jacobs’ experienced different types of slavery, it shaped their perspective on everything and it also shows the importance of their freedom.

The narratives written by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs show the lives of slaves in great detail. They describe the ways in which they were abused and dehumanized both physically and mentally. Jacobs once said “Slavery is bad for men, but is far more terrible for women,” and when you sit down and think about it, she’s right. Women in slavery suffered much more than the men for a few reasons.

They were composed at a comparative time; however Jacobs was reluctant to distribute hers unlike Douglass, who composed a few forms of his narrative more than a very long while. While they impart that basic topic in their narrative, each of them has a one of a kind point of view and voice which is reflected in their stories. To begin with, in Douglass’s narrative, it is told from a man's viewpoint; his voice is substantially more cleaned than Jacobs's, as he was a productive speaker about his own particular narrative before he ever composed his account. He has been enabled by his experience. On the other hand, Jacobs’s narrative is formed from a woman's perspective. While she unquestionably endures physical ill-use, her story is a passionate one; due to the story she needs to appraise, her essential claim is to women. She is embarrassed about herself when expounded on the bargains she needed to make for the purpose of her children and about her life as a sexual slave. Jacobs and Douglass composed the female and male versions of enslavement; they are diverse perspectives of the slave system; their voices are dissimilar- one is quiet, calm, and remorseful while the other one is uproarious and

“Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations.” (Jacobs, 120). These words are spoken by Harriet Jacobs (also known as Linda Brent) and after reading about her life experience as a slave, I have come to believe that slavery was far worse for women than it ever was for men. Jacobs never states that black slave men had it easy during the slave years, in fact she tells a few stories about how some slave men were beaten. She also tells about the life experience of a slave girl, herself. Her own experiences made me feel blessed that I was never born as a black woman during the time of slavery. I do not think that I would have been strong enough to endure

I agree that Jacobs was writing to the free white men and women in the north. I also think that Jacobs told the story she did to really grab the attention of the women of all races and north and south. I feel Jacobs did this because if she could get the women to pay attention to the abuses and sexual content going on with the women of slavery they too could get behind the anti-slavery movement. Instead of having no opinion at all Jacobs gives them a reason and a way to have a voice to speak up and speak out against slavery.

Slavery was a horrible institution that dehumanized a race of people. Female slave bondage was different from that of men. It wasn't less severe, but it was different. The sexual abuse, child bearing, and child care responsibilities affected the females's pattern of resistance and how they conducted their lives. Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates the different role that women slaves had and the struggles that were caused from having to cope with sexual abuse.

Through her work, it’s very easy to obtain a cultural analysis on her as a person because she wrote about all the daily brutal struggles as a female slave. With Jacobs’ significant piece of writing, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs really goes into detail on how life for a slave girl that has been a slave since she was born until she was finally free from her slave holders. It’s a great piece of writing and the way she wrote it, the story seems to come alive. The way she was able to make her work come alive to the reader is that not only she wrote what would happen to any ordinary slave girl, but she was able to put parts of her own life experiences within Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

we get to see Reyson while he is driving while the narration continues. As he pulls into another parking lot, we can see that the weather is becoming darker, cloudier. As Reyson steps out of the vehicle and retrieves his duel disk, we hear a clap of thunder and it slowly begins to rain. Reyson turns around and we see a figure clothed in black suit, his face hidden by a balaclava and sunglasses

Jacobs creates a connection by demonstrating her horrible experience as a slave and her humiliation in her choices to escape it: “Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! 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 a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another” (919). This shows that Jacobs attempts a draw an emotional response from free women so they will her understand of not only her experience as a female slave, but of many enslaved women that were subject to the same abuse as she. Nudelman states that on the title page of the first edition “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” there is the Scripture Isaiah 32:9: “Rise up, ye women that are at ease! Hear my voice, ye care less daughters! Give ear unto my speech.” This illustrates Jacobs’ motive of mobilizing free women to look upon enslaved women, pity them, and strive to free them. Continuing, Jacobs also uses her time in her grandmother’s crawl space to establish a connection with her female audience with a motherly dilemma. She is able to see her children, but she is unable to speak to them, nor give them the knowledge that she is directly above them (923). Mothers could sympathize with Jacobs wondering how they would respond if they were separated from their kids.

Jacobs autobiography which is known by the name of ‘Incidents in a Life of a Slave Girl’ gave a true account of the treatment that black women faced during that time and also throwing some light on a perception which has been kept in shadows from the society. While writing the story of her life, Jacobs though focused on her defeat due to obstacles like race and gender, gave voice to something which was hidden from society regardless of the presence of patriarchal society of the nineteenth century.

To begin, Harriett Jacobs carefully formulates a narrative that depicts the lives of slave girls and women as it truly was lived. Rather than conform to the readers' tastes and avoid the horrible gruesome details of the lives of female slaves, Jacobs grasps these events and passionately depicts them to her readers in hopes of some form of compassion. She knows her readers are never going to completely understand what women in slavery went through (it would take living it to comprehend) but she feels to protect them from these truths is only greater blurring the understanding of these issues. Jacobs details her life in hopes that her audience will begin to understand the hardships undertaken by innocent black women in the south and no longer sit quietly by and watch. Jacobs states that slavery is far more appalling for women; "they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own" (825). In order to truly touch her intended audience, she brings up topics that all women, free or enslaved, can understand - adultery, family, love. She hopes that by creating a piece that touches the personal lives of women, she will make it difficult for them not to stand in her shoes, even if just for a moment.

It is also assumed that the act of telling a story can provide insight into past, present and future events (Espinoza, 1997). By going through this process, individuals can find the importance of certain events and assign roles to people who are a part of their story. This act can allow a client to find new meaning and understanding to their reality (Espinoza, 1997). Not only is a