Power of Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Essay

The Power of Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs, in the preface to her book, wrote: I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse.   I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the Free States what Slavery really is (335). With this statement, Jacobs specified her purpose for writing and her intended audience.   This insight gives readersan understanding of why she chose to include what she did in her story as well as why she chose to exclude other details.   Although this work is presented as a narrative of her own life circumstances, there were many occasions when she described conditions of which she was not directly involved.   For example, she entitled one chapter "Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders" and dedicated this section to describing some of the horrifying experiences of other slaves... ... demon that possessed the South, but she held the people of the free states accountable for their contributions in upholding slavery through their own laws that mandated the return of runaway slaves as well as their inaction against slavery.   Her decision to include what she did while excluding other enumerations was very effective in arguing her point. Works Cited Jacobs, Harriet.   "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."   The Classic Slave Narratives.   Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.   New York: Mentor, 1987.