Monday, September 17, 2007
Harriet Jacobs
Who does Harriet Jacobs imagine her audience to be? (Hint: Pay close attention to the preface.) Focusing on moments in the narrative when she breaks from the story to address her audience directly, do you find that her audience makes her self-conscious? Of what? What does she want from them? (You must post your response before class on Thursday, September 20).
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It is obvious that she is trying to appeal to the "women of the North" as she states in the preface. She claims that sympathy is not her goal, but she pulls on the heartstrings of her female readers nonetheless. In comparing her work to that of Douglass, I think she does a fanatastic job of showing how mentally imprisoning slavery can be, a theme that seems to be more prevalent throughout her work.
Upon reading the segments in which she directly addresses her audience, I noticed that she cleverly puts the spotlight on the conscience of her readers, not on her own plight. She wants her readers to focus not on what she is doing wrong, but on what they could be doing right. After all, "the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standards as others."
Statements such as "Surely you..." and "Why are ye silent..." are bold and it is apparent that she wants action more than sympathy. Anyone can feel sorry about a situation, but she knows she'll have to strike a chord with her audience (motherhood, individuality, etc). She's daring her readers to examine their lives and step away from contemporary thought, prompting many people to do what seems almost impossible at the time - think for themselves.
Harriet Jacobs is writing to address the women of the North to inform them of the plight of 2 million enslaved black women. She also addresses the general population of the North and tries to convince them of what slavery really is. She wants her audience to understand the contradiction between slaveowners' belief system and their actual actions. Jacobs said in the preface was to reach out to the women of the North she very early on in the narrative uses a white woman to epitomize the situation down south by telling the readers of a good Christian woman so kind enough and so blessed enough to spit in leftovers so slave children would go hungry. I believe she wants her audience to see the outrageousness of a white wife of a slaveowner delighting in seeing a slave suffer in giving birth to her husband's baby. Luckily, the child dies; but had he or she lived Jacobs informs her audience that that same wife will willfully stand by and watch with pleasure as that child is subjected to slavery. She begins her chapter on the Trials of Girlhood by stepping away from the narrative and explain that enslaved women did not have any legal entity to turn to in the case of sexual harrassment, rape, or even murder. She also introduces the elements of rage and jealousy eminating from the wives of slaveowners. Jacobs seeks to evoke sympathy and most of all empathy form the people of the North. She expressed that she knows all to well what she went through and has no doubt that other have fared the same or worse, and if the white women of the North were in her shoes they would surely have to endure the sexual implications of slavery. She is asking those in the North to think as if they were in an enslaved person's shoes and tries to urge some type of action from the people of the North on the behalf of innocent and helpless women, and many times young girls, of the south. Jacobs steps away later and reveals the ways slavery corrupts the marriage institute in the south, but she does mention a small number of wives of slaveholder that took a resistant stance in the face of their husbands' infidelities. These women demanded the release of those slaves who had beared children by their master. I believe Jacobs was hinting that by them stepping up and demanding respect changed their situations, even if only a little. Jacobs seems concious of the fact that many whites in the North doubted the slave experience or believed slaves were exaggerating the harsh conditions and brutal situations. Jacob breaks away yet again later to expose the fact that on top of a want of freedom,life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, many slaves desired to truly learn the word of GOD, something their enemies had in abudance but did not seriously undertake.
While I’m not sure that Harriet Jacobs is speaking to one particular audience, other than all readers in order to make known the realities that women who were slaves faced, I do feel that she did pay particular attention to readers who were women. Through her autobiography Jacobs is able to bring to light the cruelties that slave women faced. I saw her autobiography as not only an outlet in which Jacobs could talk about the serious dangers that slave women were facing day to day but also the help fight slavery, help that was much needed from women all over. She states “O, what days and nights of fear and sorrow that man caused me! Reader it is not to awaken sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I suffered in slavery. I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in your hears for my sisters who are still in bondage, suffering as I once suffered.” In those few lines Jacobs captures the dangers that these women were going through and also the fact that it needs to change and that it is continually happening. She follows that statement up with “I once saw two beautiful children playing together. One was a fair white child, the other was her slave, and also her sister. I turned sadly away from the lovely sight. I foresaw the inevitable blight that would fall on the little slaves heart.” Jacobs shows what unites women, in particular these two women, and uses it to further show how destructive slavery is in its ability to tear sisters apart. By doing this she reaches out to readers and causes them to examine what is really happening. Jacobs also discusses the broken and dangerous relationship between the mistress and a slave woman. “The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage.” The real victim is the slave woman who is being harassed by the mistress’s husband but instead of receiving help she only gets harassed further by the mistress.
If Jacobs is self conscious of anything it is some of her supposed impure acts with her children’s father. However, I feel as though a lot of that is because she is aware of who her audience is and what they claim to be moral. Also those acts are acts that she would not have done on her own accord but instead are acts that were set before her due to slavery. “There are more sophistry in all this; but the condition of a slave confuses all principles of morality, and, in fact renders the practice of them impossible.” This is just another example of how devastating slavery is to a woman and the lengths she must sometimes go to in order to hold on to a bit of herself. “Pity me and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave… I feel that the salve woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others.” All throughout this autobiography there is a sense of passion in making sure readers are aware of what slave women go through and a hope followed by action in their aiding to get rid of the demons that plagued them.
As Harriet Jacobs repetitively claims her status as “poor desolate slave girl” she begs her Northern audience the “happy women who purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of [their] affection, whose homes are protected by law” to have mercy on her. She wants them to empathize with her so that they will understand that she attempted to escape the taunting advances and vile words of her Master Flint. She begs and pleads with her “virtuous” readers and urges them to place themselves inside of the woman who by force of law and thoughts of nature, was forced to submit her to lasciviousness without the protection of laws or a husband.
Rejecting the notion that all slave women were hyper-sexualized, Jacobs becomes apologetic for the beauty of her sex. She is also quite apologetic in her relationship with Mr. Sands, who later becomes the father of her two children. Not only is she apologetic, but she is so self-conscious about the ordeal that she fails to mention the thought, the suggestion, or the notion of consummation between Mr. Sands and herself. It is not until several months into the pregnancy that she discloses her situation with her family and to the readers!
I personally began to doubt her sincerity when she becomes a mother the second time. Does her audience, the Northern women with kind hearts, the avid followers of the code of true womanhood begin to doubt her as well? Well even if they did, she beans to gain sympathy from her audience once again when she discloses that her dignity was taken away with the cutting of her hair and the violence shown towards her by Master Flint. Also, one must realize, as the Foxie Roxie has pointed out, that maybe no one knew her thoughts on her relationship with Mr. Sands, and she may have pretended to love him so that he might free her and her children. It is a thought…………but what do you think?
You're right Ashley....she does take the spotlight off of herself!
As the people before me have already said, Jacobs is addressing the female audience. The preface alone as Ashley states, says she is appealing to the "women of the north". And while I feel that Jacobs is addressing the women in the north, I think she is just talking to women in general. She continuously makes remarks about how the slave woman is more hurt or abused in slavery than the slave man. It is not that she doubt other slaves experiences (men) it is that she says their is a more psychological problem with being a woman and a slave.
While it is certain that Jacobs is aware of her audience, I do not feel that her writing is at all self- conscience. There are interludes between her statements reminding readers about the pain she feels and the differences between male slaves and female slaves, but I do not feel that her "asides" cause any problems within the message. She does appeal to the female psyche along with the maternal mind but she does so in a way that any person put into a situation like that would respond. I feel that she strives to tell the honest truth about her situation and does not use flowery words to dress up the fact of her opression. She is clear and to the point stating how she feels and never apologizes for the fact, "I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judgeed by the same standards as others"(291). Her statements are directed to get a reaction from the female audience and hopefully to get them to act, but she never loses the audience in descriptions of her sturggle by using experiences just for the sake of having more evidence against slavery.
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