1. Who do you think Jacobs envisions as the audience for her autobiography? How can you tell?
2. What does Jacobs add to the understanding of the experience of slavery we gleaned from Frederick Douglass?
3. How does Jacobs attempt to control her own destiny?
4. How does Jacobs description of her hiding spot add to our understanding of her story?
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The thing that Jacobs story added to the story of Douglas was the fact that even in a “free” state a slave is not free. This is evident because at the end of the story her freedom had to be bought and that is striking to me because the common conception is that once a slave enters a free northern sate he or she us free but that is not the case as seen in Jacob’s story. in her story even in a free state slaves were still seen as property and his ir her freedom could be bought. Although she gained freedom it was not because she was in a free state it was because she was bought out of slavery.
3. How does Jacobs attempt to control her own destiny?
I think that Jacobs does to some extent, for example where she seems to have some incentive to have a white mans kids because she is under the impression that if she does have his kids, he would have to look after her and their kids. She sees is as a way out. That in some way is her attempting to change her path and to get out of her current situation.
Harriet Jacobson envisions her audience to be Christian white folks from the North. We know this because she addresses her sinful acts as if she expects her audience to feel offended and judgmental. However, as we the audience understands, only the Northern white folks at the time would do such a thing, because we are now accepting of her actions.
How does Jacobs attempt to control her own destiny?
Harriet Jacobs attempts to control her own destiny by falling in love with a single white man. Life as a female slave led to rape and sexual harassment, so Jacobs turned to a male master, who chose not to have an aggressive relationship with a female slave. In doing so, she would be able to present a better environment for her next generation.
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
1. Who do you think Jacobs envisions as the audience for her autobiography? How can you tell?
Jacobs envisions her audience to be ” But I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse. I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the Free States what Slavery really is. Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations.”. She expresses it in the preface very clearly.