Biography And History: Harriet Jacobs The Life Of A Slave Girl :: essays research papers

Biography and History Harriet Jacobs The Life of a Slave GirlTo be a good writer, you essential posess a c areful balance betwixt detachmentand association, a delicate waltz where you are not so wrapped up in the eventsof a story that it alienates the reader, and yet not so far separated from thesubject matter that the readers cannot get into it. This is espectially the opinion in an autobiographical narrative. In this case, it is rattling difficult todetach yourself from the master(prenominal) subject matter, that is, yourself. Yet it mustremain a story, and the story at its heart is a reconstruction of facts from thememory of the author. In the case of Harriet Jacobs, it was as well as important thatshe make sure the readers understood slavery from a womans perspective. Thehardships she had to back up not only entailed the work and the punishments, butalso the sexual aspect of world a slave-girl. Her task is difficult, because inorder for the reader to actually understand her position as a woman and a slave,she must make the story extremely personal. If it is too personal, however, thereader looses sight of the larger picture, and does not relate all thesehardships to the condition of the general female slave. She accomplishes thisin two ways, through her writing style, and the writing content.The style that the novel is write varies from a dialogue to a narrative,depending on the subject matter being written about. For example, the dialoguewhere Mrs. Flint confronts Linda (Jocobs) and asks her what has been going onwith her husband is handled very effectively, because as a conversation betweentwo people, we are fit to pick up on the nuances of meaning. Also, it makes thesituation seem to the reader as very exhilarating, because we dont know whatsgoing to happen next. Two paragraphs later, though, the story has dark backinto narrative, because Jacobs is trying to examine the entire situation in her premise day, as a free woman. She has to be det ached from the conversation inorder for her to draw any conclusions. The conclusion she draws is that eventhough they are in different circumstances, (Linda is a slave and Mrs. Flint isher mistress), they both give a shared problem as women -- that is, the problemsof infedelity. This general topic cannot be dealt with effectively unless it isdone at a distance, looking back with the determine she has gained.Jacobs does this a lot -- she takes her own present-day experiences and