An Occurrence In The Life Of A Slave Girl Analysis

“The catholic church is the only thing that frees a man from degrading slavery of being a child of his age(G.K. Chesterton).” The slaves in Harriet Jacobs book “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Harriet Jacobs described the relationship between the slaves and the church, and how religion tries to convince them that if you don’t obey your master God will get you. The church is trying to cover the truth about religion and trying to pressure the slaves to do what they supposed to do. Slaves and the church had a strong bond to find joy and depict to deal with the pain of slavery.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, by Harriet Jacobs, uses many rhetorical strategies to reveal the dangers that slaves face. These rhetorical strategies include metonymies, antitheses, and metaphors. Jacobs uses metonymies to highlight dangerous situations that female slaves often find themselves in. She explains

Harriet Ann Jacobs known to the public as Linda Brent and Frederick Douglass both were the victims of slavery and succeed to escape its clutches. As they possessed the skill of literateness, after becoming free members of the American society, they decided to write down their experiences of living as slaves to share what they had witnessed. Consequently, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” is the fruit of Linda Brent’s labor, and Frederic Douglass delivered his testimony in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”. Additionally, this is not the point where their similarities diminish. They were also involved into abolitionist movement and work as social reformers which gained them recognition and esteem amid Northerners.

The lives of everyone were impacted during the time of slavery. African Americans faced daily obstacles in their lives while being considered as property. In the excerpt from “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” published by Harriet Jacobs, and the interview “Charity Anderson Mobile, Alabama” the story of Charity Anderson, both reflections from former slaves, reveal opposing points of view of their unjust lives as slaves by their treatment while considered slaves, and their differing levels of education. Not all slaves were treated the same, even though many shed blood on the plantations of their masters. Treatment differed on the master, and treatment was not cruel all the time.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The Literature of the American South. Ed. William L. Andrews. New York: Norton, 1998.

The documentary “Slavery By Another Name” Connects to the book of “ The Piano Lesson” written by August Wilson very clearly. The documentary discusses about, how thousands of african americans were pulled into forced labor with shocking force and brutality. The book describes the Characteristics of these people who had to experience what the documentary discusses about. “ Lymon bought that truck so he have him a place to sleep and to avoid his sheriff ; the sheriff looking for him” - Boy Willee. Lymon Answers, “ it 's just misunderstanding” In this book of Piano lesson,

Frederick wastes no time in his narrative to explain how slavery is more of a mental battle than a physical battle. He tells the reader “I was born in Tuckahoe.. I have no accurate knowledge of my age.” and “a want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness” illustrating that he was deprived of his self-worth and self-identity at an early age. In chapter 6, Douglass overhears his master say “learning would spoil the best nigger in the world” although harsh, this is my favorite part of the text because this triggers Douglass to begin his transition into a free man.

Ambrose Bierce wrote “ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to show how precious time is. This story is showing a guy being hung, but while he was being hung, he was having flashbacks that he escaped the hanging and lived. But then at the end of the story everything went back and it showed that he was just having flashbacks and he was dead. The thesis about the motif of time will focus on how the story is laid out, the way how after he is being hung he goes to a flashback, and in part one the main character is barely known.

Many slaves would run away to avoid punishment. The slaves would hide in swamps or woods which were known as lying out. Most slaves that ran away from their slave owners would be caught and be resold as a runaway. Slaves that were labeled as a runaway would be valued less to nothing. Slave catcher would take limbs and body parts off the slave.

Jacobs was a witness to one of these occasions was when, at the age of 14, she witnessed the whipping of a plantation slave. She heard his cries and trembled at the sounds ringing through her mind for months after the event (Jacobs, 421-422). Later in her life, Jacobs fell in love with a free black man. When Dr. Flint, her owner, found this out, he called her into his study and questioned her. When she answered honestly, Dr. Flint "sprang on [her] like a tiger, and gave [her] a stunning blow” (Jacobs, 448).

evaluate their understanding of the story's events, which contributes to the story's meaning by highlighting the subjective nature of reality and the power of the mind. In conclusion, Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" uses

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs is a story about a young slave named Linda and her personal experience trying to escape alive. Linda is a brilliant black slave that is constantly tormented mentally and physically by her master, Dr. Flint. For the sake of Linda’s two young children she had with a white man out of wedlock, Linda decides to escape until she or her children are bought by close friends or family, so that they may never experience the tribulations of slavery. While the South tried to convince northerners that the master-slave relationship was a good one, Jacobs goes on to convincingly prove that is not the case.

(Bierce 7) Moreover, Bierce briefly states that Peyton Farquhar perished, and the diction is noticeably comprehensible due to Bierce’s direct statement. The excerpt’s syntax doesn't build up suspense because of its straightforwardness and simple nature. The reader knows that Peyton is dead, whereas when Bierce used more diction and syntax, it created more suspense. In Conclusion, in Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, Bierce deliberately utilizes the literary elements of dramatic irony, 3rd person limited point of view, and diction and syntax to build suspense for the reader about the fate of Peyton

Harriet Jacobs Incidence In The Life of A Slave Girl is Harriet’s very own autobiography, written to highlight impactful moments of her life as a child in slavery, moments during mother hood and eventually to her quest North to gain both the freedom of herself and her children as well. Episodes in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriett Jacobs, who took the pseudonym Linda Brent, is a convincing novel intended to bring out a women's activist voice in its perusers. Jacobs utilizes the force of her words and encounters as a slave to draw out the women's activist in men and ladies, however particularly in the white, Northern lady. She hopes to draw out "an abolitionist voice [that she, a] slave mother is relying upon her white, Northern, female

In “An Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce uses stream of consciousness narration to reveals the thoughts of Peyton Farquhar with heightened realism and drama. He tells a story during the Civil War in which the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, experiences a continuous flow of thoughts in his mind as he is about to be hanged on a railway bride for attempting to sabotage the Owl Creek Bridge seized by Union troops . In section one he highlight a sense of realism by describing Peyton Farquhar physical attributes, the setting, and the situation Peyton is experiencing. During this time Peyton is standing on a railroad bridge with his wrists bounded behind his back, and around his neck is a noose that is tied to a beam overhead.