Biography and History: Harriet Jacob's The Life of a Slave Girl
To be a good writer, you must possess
a careful balance between detachment
and association, a delicate waltz where you are not so wrapped up in the events
of a story that it alienates the reader, and yet not so far separated from the
subject matter that the readers cannot get into it. This is espectially the
case in an autobiographical narrative. In this case, it is very difficult to
detach yourself from the main subject matter, that is, yourself. Yet it must
remain a story, and the story at its heart is a reconstruction of facts from the
memory of the author. In the case of Harriet Jacobs, it was also important that
she make sure the readers understood slavery from a woman's perspective. The
hardships she had to endure not only entailed the work and the punishments, but
also the sexual aspect of being a slave-girl. Her task is difficult, because in
order for the reader to really understand her position as......
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Approximate Word Count: 1021
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |