Art's Of The Contact Zone By Mary Louise Pratt

Baker is saying that those who attempted to write of their experiences as a slave faced the daunting task of not offending the white culture or risk not being heard. This was the basic conclusion that I came to when I first read this text, but it was not until later that I came to understand this societal pressure to write in a certain way is still just another form of oppression.

To define this type of oppression, I reference this section from Mary Louise Pratt's "Art's of the Contact Zone": "....in order to lay out some thoughts about writing and literacy in what I LIKE TO CALL CONTACT ZONES. I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power..." Using this idea of the contact zone puts Jacobs' efforts in a new light. Jacobs undertook her endeavor with the understanding she was coming form an inferior position and trying to gain the respect and response from those perceived to be superior to her. In addition to
this, I believe that Jacobs presented her narrative in an auto ethnographic way. Pratt defines auto ethnographic text as follows: "... by which I mean a text in which people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them," Keeping this in mind, it helps explain the seemingly redundant homage Jacobs pays the white woman reader. Since Jacobs was trying to conform to what the reader's comfort level towards sexuality and female virtue was, she had to leave out the violence and degradation that slaves were forced to endure. Try to put yourself in Jacobs' shoes, describing horrible acts either that were done to her or that she witnessed, in such a manner as to not offend the reader. The inner turmoil must have been intense. The feeling s and memories had to be powerful, yet she was forced to leave the power out of the descriptions. The more I have looked into this text, the more I have to give Jacobs credit. To keep the animosity toward the white reader out of the narrative must have been a challenge, as Pratt notes: "Despite whatever conflicts or systematic social differences might be in play, it is assumed that all participants are engaged in the same game and that the game is the same for all players". The same for all players? How hard it must have been for Jacobs to know that if she told the story using her own words, described in detail the trauma and violence that she was subjected to, she would not be heard. To present her story in a self-deprecating manner, starting her narrative with this: "I wish I were more competent to the task I have undertaken. But I trust my readers will excuse deficiencies in consideration of circumstances", or "Neither do I care to excite sympathy for my own sufferings." Harriet Jacobs was forced to live the horrible life of a slave, but to tell her story; she has to worry about offending the reader.

Using ingenious methods, Jacobs describes her life as a slave and her interaction with those who "owned" her.
When describing the wife of her master, she says: "Mrs. Flint, like many southern women, was totally deficient in energy. She had not strength to superintend her household affairs; but her nerves were so strong." Jacobs understood that in order to be read, she could not just attack those who oppressed her, she needed to say something positive to go along with the negative. No need to offend the sensibilities of the white northern woman. This can be seen when Jacobs says: "The degradation, the wrongs, the vices that grow out of slavery, are more than I CAN DESCRIBE. They are greater than you would willingly believe". Even after attaining her freedom and relating her story years later, Jacobs still puts herself in a subordinate position, none more so than when she tells the reader of her decision to get back at her master by taking a
lover.

Now reader, I come to a period in my unhappy life, which I would gladly forget if I could. The remembrance fills me with sorrow and shame. It pains me to tell you of it; but I have promised to tell you the truth, and I will do it honestly, let it cost me what it may... but, o, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, .do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely!

After Jacobs tells the reader of how she has taken a lover, she follows with another request for understanding: "Pity me and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave."

Asking for forgiveness and pointing out deliberate omissions in a text can result in doubt from the leader. This doubt can manifest itself when the reader questions the reliability or authenticity of the narrator. I propose this is not the case with Harriet Jacobs work. I have shown that societal pressure forced Jacobs to present her work in this fashion; she had to present her narrative in such a way as to not offend the intended reader. This pressure to conform was certainly not as traumatic as being a slave, but it must have shown Harriet Jacobs that she was not an equal, that she was still oppressed.