Jacobs & Douglass: An Insight Into The Experience of The American Slave
analytical Essay
1006 words
The slave narratives of the ante-bellum time period have come across 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) Violence was almost an everyday occupancy in the life of a slave, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs had to accept that from the start. In "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" Douglass portrayed his first and worst experience of violence, "being stripped away from his mother when he was just a baby" (Lee 33). He told his story like it was something that was supposed to occur, not knowing his own family and not even knowing when he was born. It was not unusual for children born in slavery. His mother was a slave and his father was a white man. He was told that women that gave birth in slavery were subject to this, because they still had to be productive. On the other hand Jacobs depicts family life among slaves as one that remains intact in a comfortable environment. She details a family, in which each member had minimal rights and little to no say so on how they spent free time or their earnings. Many of the scholars of the 20th century slave narrat... ... middle of paper ... ...n American Literature. By Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 387-452. Print. Hunter-Willis, Miya. Writing the Wrongs: A Comparison of Two Female Slave Narratives. Diss. Marshall University, 2008. Dissertations & Theses: Full Text, ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2011. Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself. Ed. Jennifer Fleischner. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. Print. Lee, Desmond. “The Study of African American Slave Narratives “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” and “Narrative of Frederick Douglass”.” Studies of Early African americans. 17 (1999): 1-99. Web. EBSCO Wolfe, Andrea Powell. “Double-Voicedness in “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”: “Loud Talking” to a Northern Black Readership.” ATQ 22.3 (2008): 517-525. World History Collection. EBSCO. Web. 24 Sep. 2011.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how douglass uses irony and a sense of unawareness in his narrative to describe the toils of women through his aunt's afflictions but failed to accurately address and interpret.
- Analyzes how jacob's and douglass' narratives embody the rivalry between the clashing motives that generated autobiographies of slave life.
- Analyzes how douglass and jacobs were determined to fight to the death for their freedom, but he never lost his determination to gain freedom from slavery and respect from the exact ones that were torturing him.
- Analyzes the themes of "the slave narrative of frederick douglas" and "harriet jacobs: incidents in the life of a slave girl."
- Compares two women's slave narratives: "incidents in the life of a slaves girl" and "the history of mary prince".
Related
- analytical
- Slavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobsanalytical essaySlavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs 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. The history of slave women offered by Davis suggests that "compulsory labor overshadowed every other aspect of women's existence" (Davis 5).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the united states, but the actual severity of slavery isn't as well known. the experiences of slave women presented by angela davis and the theories of black women shown by patricia hill collins.
- Analyzes how the life of harriet jacobs shows the severity of life for slave women and the obstacles that made slave life more difficult for black women.
- Analyzes how the relative security that often accompanied motherhood served to reinforce its importance. harriet jacobs avoided sexual encounters with her abusive master and chose to have a child with mr. sands.
- Describes collins, patricia, black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment.
- Opines that jacobs, harriet, and yellin, jean. incidents in the life of a slave girl.
- Analyzes how the impregnation of jacobs arouses hostility from dr. flint and brings on harsher treatment.
1063 wordsRead More - Analysis Of Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girlanalytical essayIn 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
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs incidents in the life of a slave girl explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced on plantations as well as their efforts to practice motherhood.
- Analyzes how the desire for a comfortable and safe home runs throughout the book, reflecting the notion of domesticity that would have been familiar to jacobs’s mostly white female readers in the nineteenth century.
- Analyzes how linda avoids being a slave by the grace of her own intellect. she does not condemn slaves for illegal or immoral acts such as theft or adultery, but argues that the slave system dehumanizes them.
- Analyzes how jacobs' work reflects the antebellum era, pre-civil war in america, and the cult of true womanhood.
1019 wordsRead More - Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girlanalytical essayA 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).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs's reflections on slavery and bondage are recurring themes in incidents in the life of a slave girl.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs was born with a mind that only told her place in the world was that of the little girl. she had no capacity to understand the hardships that she inherited.
- Analyzes how harriet's view of death changed as she experienced the evils of bondage. the conflict in her mind must have been divisive because she valued life.
- Opines that harriet's upbringing was an important reason for why she was so elusive in her description of the raping.
- Analyzes how harriet was torn between the value of life and the freedom of death. she fell in love with a young man that gave her hope for freedom.
- Analyzes jacobs, harriet, and gates' the classic slave narratives.
1478 wordsRead More - Harriet Jacobs Incidents And A Slave Girl: An Analysisanalytical essaySlavery 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. Charles Ball’s Fifty Years in Chains and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl were both published in the early 1860’s while Kate Drumgoold’s A Slave Girl’s Story came almost forty years later
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs, charles ball and kate drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery.
- Analyzes how kate drumgoold recognizes the importance of religion throughout the community and gives it high regard.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs' incidents in the life of a slave girl follows the same path in regards to religion.
- Analyzes how charles ball, along with kate, praised god for his strength to withstand the severity of his situation. he recognizes god as the judge of one’s life.
- Analyzes the significance of the slave's ability to maintain reverence for the religion they practiced provided insight into what gave them hope.
- Analyzes how dr. flint, the master over the plantation where harriet jacobs lived, showed a great example of paternalism.
- Analyzes how drumgoold's story contrasts with harriet and charles'. she benefited from the paternalism shown by her owner.
- Analyzes how charles ball's lack of paternalism cannot be overlooked. his masters were less than kind to the poor during his enslavement.
1129 wordsRead More - Frederick Douglass and Slaveryanalytical essayFrederick Douglass's Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the inhumane effects of slavery and Douglass's own triumph over it. His use of vivid language depicts violence against slaves, his personal insights into the dynamics between slaves and slaveholders, and his naming of specific persons and places made his book an indictment against a society that continued to accept slavery as a social and economic institution. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1853 she published Letter from a Fugitive Slave, now recognized as one of the most comprehensive antebellum slave narratives written by an African-American woman. Jacobs's account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how frederick douglass's narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. harriet jacobs was born into slavery and published letter from a fugitive slave.
- Compares the narratives of douglass and jacobs demonstrating the full range of demands and situations that slaves experienced, and the mistreatment that they experienced.
- Analyzes how jacob's sister endured sexual abuse and was forced to bear a child. most women slaves faced sexual harassment or abuse at an early age, causing psychological problems as they developed into mature women.
- Analyzes how douglass' narrative of the life shows how black males were treated with disrespect even after slavery had been abolished in the north.
- Analyzes the differences between jacob's and douglass' narratives. the themes of freedom and the need to end slavery were the same.
- Analyzes how gender separated the two narratives, and gave each a distinct view toward slavery.
- Analyzes how douglass and jacob's lives moved in different directions, but it is important not to miss the common will that their narratives proclaim of achieving freedom.
1020 wordsRead More - Swallow Barn and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girlanalytical essayIncidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, that will be examined in this essay are as different as black and
In this essay, the author
- Describes the romanticized ideal of swallow barn.
- Describes the edifice, that squats, like a brooding hen, on the southern bank of the james river.
- Describes a kind of shady pocket or nook formed by the sweep of the stream, on gentle acclivity thinly sprinkled.
- Opines that servitude was intentional, but the master and slave were not.
- Analyzes how the character begins to feel a comfort with him. there is nothing to suggest he would be difficult or mean.
- Analyzes how harriet ann jacobs' novel, incidents in the life of a slave girl, offers a much different perspective.
- Analyzes how the african american woman felt obliged to disclose her identity, which was complicated than any african-american woman before her.
- Explains that brent's problems stem from her light skin and beauty. incidents plot is of summary.
- Analyzes how brent's escape, until flint’s death, appeared to have no real life.
- Opines that lovelace is the model for all that is pure and perfect, while lola is an antithesis.
- Opines that swallow barn and incidents in the life of a slave girl owe a great deal of their literary effect.
- Analyzes jacobs, harriet ann, incidents in the life of a slave girl, 1861, the norton anthology.
- Introduces william l. andrews, et al, in the american south, new york: w. w norton & co.
- Analyzes swallow barn and incidents in the life of a slave girl as different as black and white, figuratively and literally. the relationships between master and slave are depicted with the same degree of variation.
- Narrates how kennedy wrote about a life that he knew and from an perspective that was familiar. he grew up in baltimore, where his father and mother were prosperous merchants.
- Explains that kennedy was admitted to the maryland state bar in 1816, and later married elizabeth gray, the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer.
- Argues that readers can assume that life for the inhabitants of this sanctuary is likely protected, calm and amiable. this includes the relationships of frank meriwether and his slaves.
- Argues that slavery in any context can be accepted without resistance. however, for the successful telling of the story of swallow barn, kennedy didn't need to include racial tensions and issues.
- Introduces and describes meriwether as being in the meridian of life. good cheer and a good temper both tell well upon him.
- Opines that kennedy's light nature for the inhabitants of swallow barn is reflected in the first introduction of slaves, wherein negro women chant shrill ditties over their wash tubs.
- Analyzes how carey, the negro who takes care of meriwether's horses, is the perfect shadow of his master. the relationship is dynamic and engaging.
- Opines that the relationship between master and slave in swallow barn is one of mutual respect. while there was not equality at this time in history, kennedy did not need to pursue any of these issues dramatically for this story.
- Analyzes how jacobs was born a slave in edenton, north carolina, and was the first woman to author fugitive slave narratives in the united states.
- Analyzes how jacobs deals with complex issues between the master and slave. for linda, the situation was doubly perilous because of the victimization of slave women by white men.
- Analyzes how linda brent's early childhood did not encompass struggles like she would face as a maturing woman. jacobs style is to quickly tell the reader that regardless of the situation, there is no more good to life.
- Analyzes how brent became a sexual object to flint, despite the age difference. flint's age and situation required that she endure the treatment.
- Opines that it is important to understand the perspective of when referring to a literary plot significant for jacobs' time, the tragic mulatto.
- Analyzes how jacobs succeeds because in tragedy, all is not agreeable.
1737 wordsRead More - Stories of Freedomanalytical essayFrederick Douglass and Harriet Ann Jacobs were both born into slavery and both shared their stories with the world. Like all slave stories, Douglass’s and Jacobs’s works express the tension between conflicting motives that produced autobiographies of slave life. The need to achieve the most important goal, an end to slavery, took the author’s back to the world that had enslaved them. Their stories had to provide truthful reproductions of both places and experiences of the past they had escaped. White abolitionist advised slave writers to adhere to precise rules and methods to produce what they saw as one of the most powerful propaganda arguments against slavery. Still for the authors themselves, the chance to tell their stories created something more personal: a means to write an identity within a country that wrongfully deprived them their rights to exist as human beings.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the tension between conflicting motives that produced autobiographies of slave life. the need to achieve the most important goal, an end to slavery, took s back to the world that had enslaved them.
- Analyzes how the stories of douglass and jacobs reveal the full assortment of demands and situations that slaves would go through.
- Analyzes how douglass' story, "narrative of the life of frederick douglas, an american slave," was written at the height of his oratory career.
- Analyzes how harriet ann jacobs' autobiography, "incidents in the life of a slave girl," displays the style, mood, and storyline of popular fiction from the mid-nineteenth century.
- Compares douglass' autobiography to harriet jacobs, who was entangled in all the symbolism of family, community, and domesticity.
- Analyzes how jacobs's story was challenging both for herself as a writer and for female readers. the main crises of her life included her master’s relentless and unwanted sexual advances.
- Analyzes how douglass showed how a slave turned into man by fighting with an overseer. jacobs, on the other hand, was woman and this determined that she take another path.
- Analyzes jacobs' disgraceful past that resulted in her giving birth to two children that were born out of wedlock was never a reality for her. douglass, on the other hand, ends with an exciting "degree of freedom."
- Analyzes how jacobs and douglass's stories were consistent with most of the slave stories that were produced in the mid-nineteenth century. both authors made an impact on america with their autobiographies.
1241 wordsRead More - Comparing Dreams in Song of Solomon, Push, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girlanalytical essayBrent, Linda. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl". The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how a dream revised in song of solomon, push, and incidents in the life of a slave girl.
- Explains that the declaration of independence serves as the framework for rules that govern the people who fall beneath it, but who were the architects of the infamous work?
- Analyzes how precious's lack of control over her own situation ties african-americans together.
- Explains that africans have not held traditional family structures like other cultural groups. in many slave narratives, families are torn apart because of slavery.
- Analyzes how macon and pilate were separated after their father's death and lived a nomadic life traveling from place to place.
- Analyzes how precious is another example of how african-americans struggle to achieve the american dream because of their lack of a stable, traditional family structure.
- Analyzes how african american literature expresses and demonstrates examples of these dilemmas through the fabulous story telling of s.
- Describes brent's "incidents in the life of a slave girl".
- Analyzes how africans are different from other immigrants because they didn't leave their homes voluntarily. they were involuntary participants in a society that needed them.
- Analyzes how the american dream is sustained in the belief that we are equal and that working hard, following rules, and being a good person will result in obtaining that dream.
2968 wordsRead More - 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
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs, in her story incidents in the life of a slave girl, explains how living in slavery was heinous and horrible.
- Analyzes how jacobs demonstrates the inner strength that these young girls had to develop to deal with their day-to-day lives.
- Analyzes how the women of the masters were not happy about the attention that their husbands gave to the young slave girls, and it was the slaves that most often got the blame for the husband’s infidelity.
- Explains that the strong religious beliefs that families held during this era made life unbearably difficult for these slaves and especially the women.
- Explains that slave owners would make the lives of these poor girls as difficult as they possibly could. they would sell them and their children to different plantations.
- Analyzes how linda, the protagonist of the story, realizes that the only way for her children to truly be safe and free is to be away from her current master.
- Opines that linda wanted her children to be free of the control of her current slave owner. she chose to work on his plantation and leave them at home with their grandmother.
- Analyzes how linda risks her life to save her children by running away from the plantation that her master owns.
- Analyzes how linda gave up part of her life and spent 7 years hiding in a coffin-like ‘garret’ attached to her grandmother’s porch to free her children from the current master.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs uses her story to show how slavery was an abusive way of life, and how much difficulties female slaves had to go through.
1554 wordsRead More - Comparing Pursuit of Perfection by Poe and Hawthorne and the Realism of Melville and Jacobsanalytical essayMorgan, Winifred. "Gender Related Differences in the Slave Narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass." American Studies 35.2 (1994): 73-94.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hawthorne's the birth-mark aylmer is focused on recreating his wife so that she will be biologically perfect.
- Analyzes how the narrator experiences two extremes of the social world in poor man's pudding and rich man’s crumbs.
- Analyzes how women writers bring a realistic and refreshing voice to romanticism. in phelps' the angel over the right shoulder, mrs. james must come to terms with the limitations put on her life by society.
- Analyzes how jacobs' incidents in the life of a slave girl sheds light on the cruelty of slavery, and the 'extra' burden of being female slave.
- Analyzes how melville focuses on societal imperfection as a rebuttal to the notion that perfection is attainable.
- Analyzes holly's book shaming the self in the angel over the right shoulder.
- Analyzes how melville paints a realistic portrait of the imperfections of society. phelps and jacobs know first-hand about the misconceptions of perfection and the inability to capture that image.
- Analyzes how rappaccini makes his daughter a poison flower to represent female sexuality. poe and hawthorne's characters are plagued by the pursuit of perfection that turns into an obsession.
- Analyzes arner's "the legend of pygmalion in the birth-mark." brown, arthur, cooper, allene, and cooper.
- Analyzes how gender-related differences in the slave narratives of harriet jacobs and frederick douglass are discussed.
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