"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Harriet Jacob's autobiography, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", is a traditionally fashioned slave narrative printed around 1861. In it, one sees a fascinating and tragic personal view of the American past that both parallels traditional histories and also highlights elements of those histories that might otherwise escape notice. It shows how one can see in this story a definite sense of bowing to overwhelming, white preconceptions and moralities, particularly in terms of the expected behavior of a "virtuous" unmarried girl, and how there is also a large amount of what must have then been controversial condemnation of many of the aspects of American culture.

From the Paper:

"The setting for this tale begins in the more Northernly of the slave-owning states, and at the end is transferred to the actual Northern Free States. These setting allow the author not only criticize the "peculiar institution" of slavery in the South, but also to make cutting and vital observations about problems in the North such as prejudice and laws which returned slaves to their masters. One of Jacobs main points regarding slavery is a refutation of the idea that slavery is in any way beneficial for society at large. She refutes this idea by trying to expose the corruption that exists across Southern culture as a result of slavery. One gets a sense of rot and complicity from her description of the Southern setting which is obviously designed to act against the idea of slavery."

More papers on "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl":

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• Analytical Essay # 89153 : "Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"
• Book Review # 110994 : "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" and Major Themes"
• Book Review # 75582 : "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" and Womanhood"

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