23 Jul Write an analysis of Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and her “Letter from a Fugitive Slave.”
Write an analysis of Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and her “Letter from a Fugitive Slave.” What specific challenges did she face writing about her experiences as a formerly enslaved woman? Why do you think she wrote the narrative and the letter despite these challenges? What do you see as a controlling theme of the narrative? Of the letter? What is the tone of both? Who is her audience? Discuss specific events or examples that support your thesis. The following are possible approaches to the topic: Consider the ways in which Jacobs challenges the preconceptions, of her “owners” as well as of her audience. What do you think accounts for her strong sense of self despite having been enslaved all of her life? What strategies does she use to claim agency and some control over her life, even as an enslaved teenage girl? What does she value most about herself?
