Incidents in the life of Slave Girl Review

A circumstance common to all slaves in the antebellum South was that of repression. Besides suppressing the rights of slaves, slave owners wanted to silence the voice of slaves as well. However, some of these voices eventually emerged to relay some of the most realistic tales of slavery. One such story was that of Harriet Ann Jacobs, who published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl in 1861. This was the year in which the Civil War began, and so the question arises, why did Jacobs choose to publish her story? Perhaps it was just a manner by which Jacobs was able to release some of her anguish; however, it was more than just a slave’s tale. The purpose of the story is to show how the slaves were not given the universal right of being treated as humans, to show the irony in the actions of white people in relation to the slaves, and to make an appeal to the audience to support her cause.
One of the prominent themes in Jacobs’ tale is that of slaves treated as property....