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Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; a Literary Weapon

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Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; a Literary Weapon PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Tlemcen Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of English Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; a Literary Weapon Against Slavery Dissertation submitted to the Department of English as a partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Literature and Civilization Presented by Supervised by Ms.Tasnim BELAIDOUNI Ms.Meriem MENGOUCHI BOARD OF EXAMINERS Dr. Wassila MOURO Chairwoman Ms. Meriem MENGOUCHI Supervisor Dr. Frid DAOUDI Examiner Academic Year: 2016/2017 Dedications To those who believed in me To those who helped me through hard times To my Mother, my family and my friends I dedicate this work ii Acknowledgements Immense loads of gratitude and thanks are addressed to my teacher and supervisor Ms. Meriem MENGOUCHI; this work could have never come to existence without your vivacious guidance, constant encouragement, and priceless advice and patience. My sincerest acknowledgements go to the board of examiners namely; Dr. Wassila MOURO and Dr. Frid DAOUDI My deep gratitude to all my teachers iii Abstract Harriet Ann Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl seemed not to be the only literary work which tackled the issue of woman in slavery. However, this autobiography is the first published slave narrative written in the nineteenth century. In fact, the primary purpose of this research is to dive into Incidents in order to examine the author’s portrayal of a black female slave fighting for her freedom and her rights. On the other hand, Jacobs shows that despite the oppression and the persecution of an enslaved woman, she did not remain silent, but she strived to assert herself. Two chapters are included within this research; the first one is theoretical vision on slavery in America, the attempts of slaves to assert themselves politically through literature, the role of women in the antebellum era, and the strength of slave narratives in abolishing slavery. As for the second chapter, it contains an examination of the major aspects of slavery within the main incidents written in the narrative of Harriet Jacobs, to better grasp the meaning of a female life under oppression, racism, sexual abuse that were experienced at the hands of white masters. In this research, Harriet A. Jacobs is considered as the spokesperson of black and white women in the Antebellum America who fought against slavery and sought to assert herself and all slaves as well. iv Table of Contents Dedications ................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. iii Abstract..................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v General Introduction.................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One: Different Voices, One Message ......................................................... 4 1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 5 1.2. Africans’ Lives Under American Bondage ........................................................ 5 1.3. Abolitionism, an Overview ................................................................................ 7 1.3.1. Early Development .......................................................................................... 8 1.3.2. Immediatism .................................................................................................... 9 1.4. Female Activity in the Antebellum America ................................................... 11 1.5. Black Literature in the Antebellum America ................................................... 14 1.6. African American Narrative ............................................................................. 16 1.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 18 Chapter two: Harriet Jacobs, a Female Voice Against Slavery ............................. 19 2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 20 2.2. A Synopsis of Harriet A. Jacobs’s Life ............................................................ 20 2.3. Slavery and Racism in Incidents ...................................................................... 23 2.4. Sexual Harassment of Female Slaves in Incidents ........................................... 27 v 2.5. The Cult of Womanhood .................................................................................. 28 2.6. Resisting Jacobs’s Incidents ............................................................................. 31 2.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 34 General Conclusion ................................................................................................. 35 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 38 vi General Introduction General Introduction Literature has always been a way through which the silent hearts pour their thoughts, concerns, and lives in the form of a liquid substance that drops on those white papers to turn them from a mere blank sheets to memorable and strong messages. For this reason, writing has been taken as a mirror that reflects the adventures of its writer. Talking about all of this, Harriet Jacobs should be deeply taken as an example of an “enslaved life” that is reflected through literature, mainly through her book under the title of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). Harriet Ann Jacobs is one of the prominent figures in American black literature who, after her successful escape, recounted her life in a stunning feminist slave narrative in which she put into words the many facets of slavery, chiefly concerned the female slave experience. Furthermore, her strive for authorship made Incidents praised as the first autobiography by a female slave. Overall, though educating slaves was prohibited in the nineteenth century United States, Harriet’s first mistress taught her to read and write unaware that she was providing Jacobs with a weapon she might use to fight against slavery. Oddly enough, Harriet Jacobs lived with her family which made her contact with her relatives. She did not notice she was a slave until her kind mistress died. Accordingly, Harriet experienced the anxiety and the suffering of a female slave from both man and woman when she witnessed a radical change in her master’s house. A master who chiefly wanted Harriet for himself by subjecting her for his sexual harassment. Unlike many of her counterparts, Harriet Jacobs repeatedly rejected her master and resisted his oppression, brutality, and sexual abuse. The aim of this research work is to introduce the literary genre known as ‘slave narratives’ through the following question: to what extent did Jacobs’s Incidents succeed in portraying the horrors of slavery for black Americans, and specifically for black female slaves? Consequently, this research question can be answered if the following questions are raised: 2 General Introduction What are the various conditions that effected slaves’ lives in the nineteenth century America? How did black men and women assert themselves in the Antebellum era? How did women act in the antislavery movement? These questions can be solved from a Feminist Marxist approach because it exposes the bad conditions of the American women's lives in general and black female’s life in particular since they were both oppressed in their society which neglected their rights as human beings and see them as poor, helpless and ignorant. Nonetheless, it reveals their struggle to reach their principal targets in achieving equal rights among all Americans regardless of their gender or their colour. Whereas, the Marxist approach is used to shed light on the racist treatment of black as inferiors and worthless. Accordingly, this work relies on the accounts of different theorists and historians like Johnnie M. Stover who argued that black women endeavoured, through their autobiographies, to better their circumstances by making a change for themselves and for black brothers and sisters. Jean Fagan Yellin, also, emphasized the struggle of Harriet Jacobs to assert herself and her narrative Incidents as well. This thesis is divided into two chapters; the first one is intended to offer a vision on the slave life and how blacks sought to assert themselves through various ways, and the major events that happened in the Antebellum America. As for the second, it reflects a study of the different aspects through which Harriet Ann Jacobs presents the evil of slavery in her narrative as well as the portrayal of the suffrage of young female slave. 3 Chapter One: Different Voices, One Message Chapter One: Different Voices, One Message 1.1. Introduction The present chapter mainly aims to shed light on slavery over the Antebellum era and its impact in the nineteenth century America when the society witnessed a substantial change among all, including people of both gender and race. As well
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