Establishing Identity Beyond Gender Roles: In “Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass an American Slave” and “The Life Of A Slave Girl”
Living under an oppressive system certainly creates a barrier between reaching a real identity rather than holding the values that encompass misconceived identities of gender. By applying the school of Psychoanalytical criticism and Feminist criticism to the narratives Incidents In “The Life Of A Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass the reader is able to understand the impact gender roles have on framing identity. Although Jacobs and Douglass experienced slavery as the opposite gender, their attempts to repress their injustice can be observed by the psychoanalysis on the influence of …show more content…
Just as Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass is also born into slavery and is unaware of his age or who his father is. Although he is aware his father is a white man and can possibly be his master, this is the first incident in which Douglass conflicts his identity that is expected to be strong and in control but rather confused. Douglass also mentions he has never enjoyed the “tender and watchful care” of his mother, leading to his inability to display any type of emotion when he learns of her death, but still recognizing it as an important aspect of what a woman is cultured to demonstrate for her infant. Observing Douglass Psychoanalytical frustration is displayed in his description of an enslaved mother interacting with her infant: “before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it”. This form of repression has stagnated his ability to feel affection toward his mother as well as repressing the power his master has over him since he is unsure if they are actually related. Furthermore, Douglass points out his conditions with Mr. Covey as, “much worse in the first six months... than in the last six” (4). This is the context he provides to explain how he exemplifies his masculinity stating, “you have seen how a man becomes a slave, now you shall see how a slave becomes a man” (4). This becomes the moment where Douglass creates his new identity to exert his power and attempt to be as free as he can be within the conditions of the
Living under an oppressive system certainly creates a barrier between reaching a real identity rather than holding the values that encompass misconceived identities of gender. By applying the school of Psychoanalytical criticism and Feminist criticism to the narratives Incidents In “The Life Of A Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass the reader is able to understand the impact gender roles have on framing identity. Although Jacobs and Douglass experienced slavery as the opposite gender, their attempts to repress their injustice can be observed by the psychoanalysis on the influence of …show more content…
Just as Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass is also born into slavery and is unaware of his age or who his father is. Although he is aware his father is a white man and can possibly be his master, this is the first incident in which Douglass conflicts his identity that is expected to be strong and in control but rather confused. Douglass also mentions he has never enjoyed the “tender and watchful care” of his mother, leading to his inability to display any type of emotion when he learns of her death, but still recognizing it as an important aspect of what a woman is cultured to demonstrate for her infant. Observing Douglass Psychoanalytical frustration is displayed in his description of an enslaved mother interacting with her infant: “before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it”. This form of repression has stagnated his ability to feel affection toward his mother as well as repressing the power his master has over him since he is unsure if they are actually related. Furthermore, Douglass points out his conditions with Mr. Covey as, “much worse in the first six months... than in the last six” (4). This is the context he provides to explain how he exemplifies his masculinity stating, “you have seen how a man becomes a slave, now you shall see how a slave becomes a man” (4). This becomes the moment where Douglass creates his new identity to exert his power and attempt to be as free as he can be within the conditions of the