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Comparative Evaluation in Slave Life: Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass

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Comparative Evaluation in Slave Life: Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass
This paper is a comparative evaluation I did between the autobiographical experiences of two former slaves, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, were both written during the same time period (the former in 1861, the latter in1856). These two books are compelling works of African American Literature. They are depressing but at the same time hopeful, discouraging but uplifting. Both authors go into many aspects concerning the brutality of slavery, but I have thoroughly reviewed and am about to go over only a few in this analysis. Some of the more pertinent issues are a slaves childhood, the effect of gender on a slaves life, the different types of work the two slaves did, the time period they lived in and the effect of the region the two slaves lived in. The childhood of a slave can be both fair and cruel. Frederick Douglass' and Harriet Jacobs' childhoods couldn't be more opposite. When Harriet was growing up in her "comfortable home" as she calls it, she was completely shielded from slavery. Her Father was an extremely good and accomplished carpenter and he was allowed to provide for his family, minus a percentage that went to his mistress. Harriet, or Linda Brent as she refers to herself in the book, is completely unaware of her inherent bondage into slavery. Not until she is six, when her mother dies and when she takes her place at the side of her mistress, does she realize the reality of slavery. Frederick Douglass, on the other hand, didn't have such a blissful childhood. He was born a mulatto, or a child with a parent of each race (usually this came from the white master raping his black slave). Because of his heritage Douglass was moved away from his mother's master and, obviously, away from his mother. This was due to the fact that it was so apparent at the time that when a slave had a fair child, or mulatto, the


Bibliography: Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Dover Publications, 2001.
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