Life Of A Slave Girl Essay
Since the Declaration of Independence, America was a country with a specific ideal within gender status in society. The problem that its understood today, is that in that period of time, minorities were not being considered for the equality of human rights. Minorities in the 1800s were mostly African Americans and women. On one hand the text “Life of a Slave Girl” by Jacobs, Harriet A, is the perfect example to compare how women throughout that era felt towards the violence, economical and legal intimidation from majority groups. They called themselves white supremacists and adopted the Republican party as their political representation. On the other hand, along the text “Life in the Iron-Mills” by Rebecca Harding Davis in the mid-1800s, she is trying to feminize this male figure. Why? Well, Davis is writing for a very harsh audience which are the white supremacists and in order to prepare the reader for the text
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she gives them sentences with double meaning for them to generate their own assumptions and think of how this affects part of the society. When analyzing Jacobs’ excerpt, the method in which she persuaded and approached her audience proved to be essential to the organization of the text. an example would be, “READER, be assured this narrative is no fiction. I am aware that some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are, nevertheless, strictly true” (Life of a Slave Girl) The use us direct speech, creates a connection between character and reader. Her humble word choice also helps her persuasive tone, in trying to create compassion and sympathy from the reader. Clearly, she is not looking for petty but understanding and to open up the eyes of the reader if he/she support slavery or racial slur. Again, in Davis text direct speech is used when “Can you see how foggy the day is? As I stand here, idly tapping the windowpane, and looking out through the rain at the dirty back-yard and the coalboats below, fragments of an old story float up before me,—a story of this house into which I happened to come to-day. You may think it a tiresome story enough,” She is bringing the reader into her own imagination, the strong use of imagery within this sentences is to attract that upper-class man or woman reading her lines. In this exert from Davis’s text there’s not much explain of the argument she is going to use, but its clear the persuasion in her word choice. When thinking of an argument for her approach towards changing her readers mind “my friend, who study psychology in a lazy, dilettante way. Stop a moment. I am going to be honest. This is what I want you to do. I want you to hide your disgust, take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me,—here, into the thickest of the fog and mud and foul effluvia. I want you to hear this story.” In these lines its clearly understood that her audience is that white supremacy or upper class. Even though she might be using just a fancy word choice, she uses “psychology”, “clean clothes” which are stereotypes of a higher class in the 1800s. Only white people and immigrants had the money to afford “clean clothes” and furthermore, the right to study. According to the context and making a comparison with the time period and laws that existed at that point. Men, would be her audience in these specific lines. Remember women did not have the right to study and slavery was still part of the daily routine.
Each writer has a particular characteristic in their text, for example Jacobs always begins writing her paragraphs with an upper-case word, mostly a verb or an action “I HARDLY expect that the reader will credit me, when I affirm that I lived in that little dismal hole, almost deprived of light and air, and with no space to move my limbs, for nearly seven years.
But it is a fact; and to me a sad one, even now; for my body still suffers from the effects of that long imprisonment, to say nothing of my soul.” (Life of a Slave Girl) This characteristic, immediately caught the readers’ attention and just like Davis prepares the reader for what is about to come. Jacobs in this last quote, explains her experience and foreshadows the outcome of it as a non-fiction novel, Jacobs has a more dramatic tone than Davis. However, Davis in her fiction novel, makes more emphasis in the use of imagery to present a detailed picture of her story, both writers use this technique in order to change the American Ideal of the 1800s which was of inequality among gender and
race.
she gives them sentences with double meaning for them to generate their own assumptions and think of how this affects part of the society. When analyzing Jacobs’ excerpt, the method in which she persuaded and approached her audience proved to be essential to the organization of the text. an example would be, “READER, be assured this narrative is no fiction. I am aware that some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are, nevertheless, strictly true” (Life of a Slave Girl) The use us direct speech, creates a connection between character and reader. Her humble word choice also helps her persuasive tone, in trying to create compassion and sympathy from the reader. Clearly, she is not looking for petty but understanding and to open up the eyes of the reader if he/she support slavery or racial slur. Again, in Davis text direct speech is used when “Can you see how foggy the day is? As I stand here, idly tapping the windowpane, and looking out through the rain at the dirty back-yard and the coalboats below, fragments of an old story float up before me,—a story of this house into which I happened to come to-day. You may think it a tiresome story enough,” She is bringing the reader into her own imagination, the strong use of imagery within this sentences is to attract that upper-class man or woman reading her lines. In this exert from Davis’s text there’s not much explain of the argument she is going to use, but its clear the persuasion in her word choice. When thinking of an argument for her approach towards changing her readers mind “my friend, who study psychology in a lazy, dilettante way. Stop a moment. I am going to be honest. This is what I want you to do. I want you to hide your disgust, take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me,—here, into the thickest of the fog and mud and foul effluvia. I want you to hear this story.” In these lines its clearly understood that her audience is that white supremacy or upper class. Even though she might be using just a fancy word choice, she uses “psychology”, “clean clothes” which are stereotypes of a higher class in the 1800s. Only white people and immigrants had the money to afford “clean clothes” and furthermore, the right to study. According to the context and making a comparison with the time period and laws that existed at that point. Men, would be her audience in these specific lines. Remember women did not have the right to study and slavery was still part of the daily routine.
Each writer has a particular characteristic in their text, for example Jacobs always begins writing her paragraphs with an upper-case word, mostly a verb or an action “I HARDLY expect that the reader will credit me, when I affirm that I lived in that little dismal hole, almost deprived of light and air, and with no space to move my limbs, for nearly seven years.
But it is a fact; and to me a sad one, even now; for my body still suffers from the effects of that long imprisonment, to say nothing of my soul.” (Life of a Slave Girl) This characteristic, immediately caught the readers’ attention and just like Davis prepares the reader for what is about to come. Jacobs in this last quote, explains her experience and foreshadows the outcome of it as a non-fiction novel, Jacobs has a more dramatic tone than Davis. However, Davis in her fiction novel, makes more emphasis in the use of imagery to present a detailed picture of her story, both writers use this technique in order to change the American Ideal of the 1800s which was of inequality among gender and
race.