The Struggle Of Slavery In Douglass, By J. Jacobs

In their narratives Frederick Douglass’ and Harriet Jacobs’ recount the agony they have gone through in a slaveholding society, where gender played a deceiving role during the captiva-tion. For slaves it was impossible to achieve designated stereotypical roles of the sexes, respec-tively for male and female, as the only officially recognized gender at that time. While Harriet Jacobs was restricted in her aspire for freedom due to her role conflict as mother and slave, Fred-erick Douglass seems distant to family matters and focused on getting his independence and pride back with education and resistance. Both were constrained to follow the general pictures default to fit the American culture and the norms set by society towards gender throughout their captivation as slaves. Yet, these specific examples of their life are despite their differences, very similar in their desires.

In this paper I will compare the writings of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. I will touch on their genre, purpose, content, and style. Both authors were born into slavery. Both escaped to freedom and fought to bring an end to slavery, each in their own way. Both Jacobs and Douglass have a different purpose for their writings.

Although Douglass and Jacobs' experiences support the "personal as political', their narratives further explore the residual effects of slavery: 1) to prohibit the identity of male and female slave, and 2) to marginalize the slave's presence in society.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs strongly speaks to its readers by describing the brutalities of slavery and the way slave owners can destroy peaceful lives. After reading and rereading the story have noticed certain things regarding how Jacobs tries to educate her readers and her intended audience which is the women of the North. As if we do not know enough about how terrible slavery is, this story gives detailed examples of the lives of slaves and provokes an incredible amount of emotions. She uses several tactics in her writing to reach her desired audience and does so very well.

(1) The use of natural dialect can be seen throughout the slave narrative interviews through words and phrases used that were common during the period of slavery, but are not used today. One example can be seen in the dialect used by former slave Mama Duck, “Battlin stick, like dis. You doan know what a battling stick is? Well, dis here is one.” Through incomplete sentences and unknown words the natural dialect of the time can be seen. Unfamiliar words such as shin-plasters, meaning a piece of paper currency or a promissory note regarded as having little or no value. Also, geechees, used to describe a class of Negroes who spoke Gullah. Many examples can be seen throughout the “Slave Narratives”

Throughout history, humans have enslaved humans. If slavery never existed, neither would temples or civilization or pyramids. Although they have always provided what is needed, owners would still abuse and mistreat their slaves. However, some slaves have written books about their life in slavery and the cruelties they endured. These stories are called slave narratives, pieces of literature that are written by slaves about their own personal lives (Gale 1). The purpose of these narratives is to show the harmful lives of slaves and what they had to endure (“Slave” 1). Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass are two slaves who are famous for their narratives. Both authors wrote about the hardships in and out of slavery and they are both well educated

In Incidents of the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs shares a narrative of her troubling experiences throughout her life as she overcomes slavery and the many obstacles in her path in doing so. Not only does she discuss her struggles within her journey of becoming a free black person, but she also gives the readers insight to what the daily life was like as a women, apposed to the daily hardships of a black man. Within the narrative she discusses several different issues while she challenges our traditional beliefs on what may have happened during the process of the abolition of slavery and how we have gradually developed today’s government and attitude towards others.

Wallace Quarterman (1935) was a slave on Skidaway Island, Georgia before the Civil War. The available audio narrative covers only a portion of his life, primarily from the moment of his freedom through coping with Reconstruction. Aunt Harriet Smith (1941) provides a longer view of her life on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, from her childhood through her three marriages. Both reported being treated well by their 'masters' before the Civil War ended.

Here, it is apparent to the reader that the roots of all the suffering related to this slave family stem from the master’s inevitable corruption as the head of the family. Instead of writing a document about slave experiences, Jacobs effectively analyzing the origins of her people’s miseries. Slavery is worse for women, according to her: “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortification peculiarly their own” (73). This remark from Jacobs coherent the emotional burdens put upon the black women. Ironically, for slave mothers, New Year Day approaches with massive pain and sorrow, because it is a traditional day to trade slaves. The ache

Slavery was an embarrassing time in America’s history. In 2016, slavery has become a distant memory. It’s easy for us to admit that slavery is wrong but, in Frederick Douglass’s time no one thought that it was. Frederick Douglass went on to write books and give speeches in hope that one day all slaves would be free. In the book called “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, he attempts to shine light on the American Slave system in the 1800’s.

Slave narratives frequently start with prefaces, written by white editors, which attempt to prepare white readers for the story itself. Such introductions typically affirm to the truthfulness of the story—the accuracy of its facts and the trustworthiness of its black authorship. Since the publishing supervisors position themselves as authorities on the stories, the prefaces indirectly place black stories underneath the power of white editors. Garrison’s prologue in particular displays the urge to control and contain Douglass’s career and narrative. Garrison places himself at the center of the text. Douglass’s success story is replaced somewhat by the story of Garrison’s judgment and fostering of Douglass’s talent. Phillips attests that Douglass’s

Harriet Jacobs, in her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was born into slavery in the south. While her youth contained “six years of happy childhood,” a few tragedies and mistresses later, Jacobs spent many years in pain under the possession of her cruel five-year-old mistress, Emily Flint, and Emily’s father, Dr. Flint. Once able to obtain freedom, Jacobs spent most of her life working for the Anti-Slavery office in New York, in hope that one day she could make a difference in the world. “She sought to win the respect and admiration of her readers for the courage with which she forestalled abuse and for the independence with which she chose a lover rather than having one forced on her” (Jacobs 921). Linda Brett, the pseudonym that Jacobs uses to narrate her life story, endures the harsh behavior women slaves were treated with in the south during the nineteenth century. The dominant theme of the corruptive power and psychological abuse of slavery, along with symbolism of good and evil, is demonstrated throughout her narrative to create a story that exposes the terrible captivity woman slaves suffered. The reality of slavery in the past, versus slavery today is used to reveal how the world has changed and grown in the idea of racism and neglect.

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.

Harriet Jacobs, a black woman who escapes slavery, illustrates in her biography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) that death is preferable to life as a slave due to the unbearable degradation of being regarded as property, the inevitable destruction of slave children’s innocence, and the emotional and physical pain inflicted by slave masters. Through numerous rhetorical strategies such as allusion, comparison, tone, irony, and paradoxical expression, she recounts her personal tragedies with brutal honesty. Jacobs’s purpose is to combat the deceptive positive portrayals of slavery spread by southern slave holders through revealing the true magnitude of its horrors. Her intended audience is uninvolved northerners, especially women, and she develops a personal and emotionally charged relationship with them.

In the distant past, people often fought with rival enemies in order to gain resources. The remaining members of the slaughtered tribe were used as slaves. Historical evidences show that slavery was a common practice amongst earliest known civilization. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians kept certain numbers of slaves. For example, The Greeks preferred having slave women and children for domestic servitude. Similarly, the romans and Egyptians used slave as a means of internatment in gladiator fights and build major cities infrastructures. In the past, war was primarily used as a means of gaining slaves. However, some people sold their children in to slavery while others inherited slaves form their family. As society progressed, slave tread became a lucrative business. The British and Dutch were pioneers in expanding the slave tread across the world. The human suffering inflicted by the slave trade was immense, but many nations were blinded by the enormous profits gained form the practice. As result, stopping slavery meant an end to economic life line of many nations. Slave treads reached its maximum horror during the 18th century trans-Atlantic slave trade. Slaves from West Africa were placed on a ship and brought to the Americas to work on cotton, fields and sugar plantation. The row materials like Cotton and sugar was then sold to the different parts of the world. The abolition movant combined with emancipation proclamation helped