"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"

Paper Summary:

This paper illustrates the complexity of Harriet Jacobs' vocabulary in her narrative, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", as well as the grammatical construction of her sentences. The paper also shows how the language and structure of this text make it difficult to determine what is fact and what is fiction. The paper asserts that this has the effect of making Jacobs' work less credible.

From the Paper:

"The first passage taken from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs begins by addressing any reader who may be reading what she has wrote. She addresses the reader: "And now, reader, I come to a period in my unhappy life" Two sentences later she calls the reader "you": "It pains me to tell you of it" Jacobs is addressing the reader first formally and then more informally, as if she has already gotten to know them and wants to fill them in on a secret. She says that she has promised to tell the truth (referring to the reader again as "you"). As far as the passage thus far, it seems that the narrator is addressing anyone who will listen to her tale of sorrow."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Garfield, Deborah M., Zafar, Rafia. Harriet Jacobs and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: New Critical Essays (Cambridge Studied in American Literature and Culture. Cambridge University Press. 1996.
• Jacobs, Harriet Ann. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Dover Publications. 2001.

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

• Analytical Essay # 144041 : "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"
• 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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