Harriet Jacobs’s Incidence and Life of a Slave Girl has a reoccurring theme of innocence and purity. Jacobs uses this theme to connect with her intended audience. This is not an easy feat being that she was a black woman and she was addressing white women during a time that in most cases there would not have been any relatability between the two. Because the narrative was a call to action, it was imperative that Jacobs created a theme that was universal and that could compel the audience to not only listen but also empathize. The first purity introduced by Jacobs is not a sexual one but one that describes the innocence of her childhood. She details her early childhood in such a way that makes her relatable to many. She acknowledges that
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Flint as a monster. As a doctor, he is supposed to be of high moral character, but the fear that he puts upon Linda says otherwise. From another point of view, the position that he puts his wife in again contrasts what a doctor is supposed to be like. Jacobs had to build Linda’s rapport but also tear down Dr. Flint’s in order to help justify what she had to admit in the upcoming chapters. Knowing that sexual purity was very important in the minds of her readers, telling them that she gave it up willingly would risk losing their support of her, but it was something that had to be told. She had to make the readers understand that she had no choice or the choices that she did have were both unfavorable. Jacobs calls out on the readers to not judge her too harshly. She points out all of the things that make keeping their purity possible that she did not have. In the end, she does not put the blame on Dr. Flint but rather slavery. She says “ …I tried hard to preserve my self-respect; but I was struggling alone in the powerful grasp of the demon Slavery; and the monster proved too strong for me” (Jacobs 233). Pointing out that the cause of her loss of purity is slavery is key in her call to action. She wants the reader to fight the injustices of slavery, so by correlating the loss of purity, something that they can personally relate to, with slavery, it gives them a reason to
Flint as a monster. As a doctor, he is supposed to be of high moral character, but the fear that he puts upon Linda says otherwise. From another point of view, the position that he puts his wife in again contrasts what a doctor is supposed to be like. Jacobs had to build Linda’s rapport but also tear down Dr. Flint’s in order to help justify what she had to admit in the upcoming chapters. Knowing that sexual purity was very important in the minds of her readers, telling them that she gave it up willingly would risk losing their support of her, but it was something that had to be told. She had to make the readers understand that she had no choice or the choices that she did have were both unfavorable. Jacobs calls out on the readers to not judge her too harshly. She points out all of the things that make keeping their purity possible that she did not have. In the end, she does not put the blame on Dr. Flint but rather slavery. She says “ …I tried hard to preserve my self-respect; but I was struggling alone in the powerful grasp of the demon Slavery; and the monster proved too strong for me” (Jacobs 233). Pointing out that the cause of her loss of purity is slavery is key in her call to action. She wants the reader to fight the injustices of slavery, so by correlating the loss of purity, something that they can personally relate to, with slavery, it gives them a reason to