Harriet Jacobs success in literature to fight slavery is in the tone of her piece and the beauty in which describes things.
She both tells her story with an engaging a language as any other story book, but sharply provides commentary on the various Incidents within her life. Implying that many injustices would have not occurred had it not been for her situation. By providing a more story-telling experience, she forces the audience to see her a human, and not just another runaway venting. But her Pseudonym used, "Linda Brent" was criticized for never having existed at all. Readers were split between the book being mere abolitionist propaganda, and the words of a real slave. The writing was to "sauve" to be the work of a runaway, but too detailed and descriptive for anybody outside bonded-people to know. The novel immediately became the counter to Frederick Douglass's book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. Jacobs' book was the first of its kind to let the voice of the enslaved woman to speak, although was overshadowed by the books written by men. |
Often times changing the mindset of people may not be a grand lecture or compelling speech, but a little book they read by the fire.
And that was the out come of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself" So I was sold at last! A human being sold in the free city of New York! The bill of sale is on record, and future generations will learn from it that women were articles of traffic in New York, late in the nineteenth century of the Christian religion. It may hereafter prove a useful document to antiquaries, who are seeking to measure the progress of civilization in the United States. I well know the value of that bit of paper; but much as I love freedom, I do not like to look upon it. Now that the book itself has been covered,
now we will cover how the book was received after publication! |