— Anonymous
I believe that “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” should be considered a work of great literature because of its ability to view a terrible moment in history (slavery) through a woman’s perspective. Whenever I read something about slavery its usually about the general population or about a man’s escape from slavery never the struggles of a black women. In the past I didn’t take a woman’s perspective on slavery into consideration I thought I was well informed and understood the whole picture. But after reading Jacobs book it’s clear that women had faced different struggles than men. Issues such as not being able to protect their children from slavery that occurred. I can only imagine what that felt like for a mother under slavery. My own mother shouts at me sometimes for coming home late and not texting her my whereabouts. This shows how a mother no matter what the situation might seem to me now or a slave holder during slavery they will always be worried about their children. In Jacobs book she writes about her tragedies that struck her life as a mother. She literally almost sacrificed her life for her children’s freedom and safety which shows that a mother’s love for her children is endless. This was one of many things that I learned about the slavery times that never occurred to me in my previous reading of slavery. It gives a deeper sight into the tragedy that plagued this nation. Getting a new perspective about slavery arouses a lot of new things that a lot of people didn’t know about. In her book her target audience seems to be more leaned to women. That why their struggles shouldn’t go unnoticed specially since it could have been their struggle that could have possibly been the fire that led to the woman’s movement for many things that followed.
