A traditional slave narrative is meant to speak out against slavery. It is read by the free, influential white men of the North to join the abolitionist movement to abolish slavery from the United States. Harriet Jacobs takes a different approach in her own slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In a passage of her narrative, Jacobs says:
“But, O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely! If slavery had been abolished, I, also, could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws; and I should have been spared the painful …show more content…
She does this throughout the narrative to remind the reader that she is addressing free women. In the beginning, she says, “O, you happy free women,” as she talks about the experiences slaves have on New Year’s Day where they are being sold to new masters and are separated from their families, while the women of the North are celebrating with family and friends at the coming of a new year (17). Jacobs wants the women to know how horrific her life and the lives of others are because they suffer under slavery. The key word that Jacobs always uses when speaking to the reader is “happy.” She calls the women happy because she knows that they are living better lives than her simply because they are free. A woman may not always feel that her life is perfect, but it can never compare to the life of a woman in slavery. Jacobs knows that the white women of the North lived chaste lives and the scandal of consensual intercourse out of wedlock was beyond their imagination. Jacobs is warning them that she is about to share a moment of her life that she is not proud of that would shock them greatly. The lives they lived are polar opposites of her own, so knowing the truth of her past will be painful for them to hear. Jacobs had to remind them that they come from very different worlds, this way they would not be too hateful towards her choices. The one thing they had in common was that they were all women. Jacobs hoped to use this to her advantage by reaching out to them and having them understand her
“But, O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely! If slavery had been abolished, I, also, could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws; and I should have been spared the painful …show more content…
She does this throughout the narrative to remind the reader that she is addressing free women. In the beginning, she says, “O, you happy free women,” as she talks about the experiences slaves have on New Year’s Day where they are being sold to new masters and are separated from their families, while the women of the North are celebrating with family and friends at the coming of a new year (17). Jacobs wants the women to know how horrific her life and the lives of others are because they suffer under slavery. The key word that Jacobs always uses when speaking to the reader is “happy.” She calls the women happy because she knows that they are living better lives than her simply because they are free. A woman may not always feel that her life is perfect, but it can never compare to the life of a woman in slavery. Jacobs knows that the white women of the North lived chaste lives and the scandal of consensual intercourse out of wedlock was beyond their imagination. Jacobs is warning them that she is about to share a moment of her life that she is not proud of that would shock them greatly. The lives they lived are polar opposites of her own, so knowing the truth of her past will be painful for them to hear. Jacobs had to remind them that they come from very different worlds, this way they would not be too hateful towards her choices. The one thing they had in common was that they were all women. Jacobs hoped to use this to her advantage by reaching out to them and having them understand her