The Struggle Of Slavery In Douglass, By J. Jacobs

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In these two tales of brutal bondage, Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the modern reader can decipher two vastly different experiences from circumstances that were not altogether that dissimilar. Both narratives tell the story of a slave gaining his or her freedom from cruel masters, yes, but that is where the most prominent similarities end. Not only are they factually different, these stories are entirely distinct in their themes.

(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”

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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