The following discussion focuses on Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Heroic Slave by Frederick

Topic: Literature Analysis

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Institution

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Introduction

The pangs of slavery were felt in many parts of the world before the abolition of the same evil took place. Slaves were required to work with less or no pay and the conditions that they were being exposed in were very harsh. Some died while trying to escape from their masters while others remained there fore the rest of their lives. The following discussion focuses on Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Heroic Slave by Frederick Douglass.

Discussion

Harriet Jacobs was born in Edenton, Northern Carolina in about 1813. It is said that her father Elijah had been a slave and so was her mother Delilah. She is said to have acquired the status of being a slave immediately after birth owing to the fact that she had been born from slavery.

The author chose to describe the above situation in order to pass the message to the reader that slavery was perpetual as long as a person was born from a family where either one or both of the parents were slaves. This is the reason why Harriet became Dr. Norcom’s slave at the age of twelve after Margaret Hornblow’s death. She was the lady who was to take care of her after the death of Delilah her mother.

The author chose to use a female character in order to expose the kind of evil that the slave women were being exposed in. The story explains that she was being sexually harassed for almost a decade. Apart from that, she was denied any chances of forming any relationship with any man since her movement was monitored.

The author chooses to use the character of low class to expose the social inequality that dominated the time. The chances of a person who came from a family where the main economic activity was farming had higher chances of becoming a slave. This was the author’s deliberate strategy in order that the audience can get to know the kind of inequality and harsh treatment that the slaves were exposed at.

Finally, a woman has been used by the author to show that the women have also the power to liberate themselves from any kind of injustices as it is demonstrated when Harriet escapes and eventually joins the anti-slavery activist to fight for the rights of her fellow slaves.

The above story compares to that of the Heroic Slave in the sense that both have the same theme of slavery. The main protagonist in this play is Madison Washington who was himself a slave. He is to have had a wife and two children, who were also in slavery in the same place that he worked.

The author has deliberately chosen to use the black character to expose the evils of racial discrimination that had dominated the United States in this era. The blacks were being considered as being inferior to the whites and therefore they were denied equal chances that the rest of the people from the superior race gained. Majority of the slaves therefore became blacks who would work for the whites.

The above strategy was chosen by the author since he knew that if he addressed the issue of race directly, it would have resulted into a conflict from the white who were predominantly racists. The author has also deliberately chosen to use a white couple as good Samaritans who have become a refuge for Madison as he was trying to escape from slavery. This sends the message that all the whites were not racists. There are those who were out to fight this kind of discrimination.

This story compares with the above in that Madison becomes the voice of the slaves as did Harriet become an activist.

The author chooses to end this story with the fact that the blacks decided to revolt against the harsh treatment that they faced from their masters. The black army was ready to restore the normalcy. The righter was using this kind of strategy to pass the message that unless the blacks became offensive, they will never liberate themselves.

Conclusion

People will continue being harassed and treated harshly unless they become courageous and get ready to fight for their rights. No matter how little power one has, they can do something as it has been demonstrated by the two stories.