Narrative Contrast of the Male and Female Enslaved Experience in America:
Comparison and Contrast of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
Female and male autobiographical narratives invariably take different forms because of the different, albeit culturally constructed, nature of male and female experience. This is true of narratives of free people even today, but even more so of the enslaved African-Americans of the 19th century. Thus, not only does Frederick Douglass' Narrative contrast in its 'plot' or true-life story structure and interest in comparison to Harriet Jacob's tale of her escape from bondage. Both tales are significantly impacted by the gender of the authors as well as the author's intent in writing and intended audience. Douglass tells the tale of a young man, whom escaped ignorance and violence through movement. Jacobs tells the tale of herself as a young woman and mother seeking escape from sexual exploitation not through movement, but through hiding.
Both authors wrote against the institution of slavery, and used their own, personal experiences of slavery in the South to generate support for the national abolition of the institution. At the time, the abolitionist movement was mainly grounded in the Northern states of America. However, Douglass wrote, and also spoke as a gifted orator, mainly to Northern Whites. Thus his autobiography uses elements of how slavery it detrimental to the 'souls of White folk' (to turn a phrase of W.E.B. Dubois on its head) as well as those of the enslaved, to generate support for the anti-slavery cause. An example of this can be found in his description of a White woman whom is one of the first mistresses of the young, enslaved Douglass. "But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already...
This renunciation, depending on one's perspective, represents either a willful act of sacrifice or a selfish act of disobedience. Sandra Pouchet Paquet, however, frames this problematic deed in neutral terms in her analysis of the text, which focuses on its ambivalence toward the role of ancestral knowledge in identity formation. Paquet (2009) asserts that Janie "repudiates the values of her surrogate parents in her conscious quest for selfhood" (p.501).
Her society tells her she needs one, and when Milkman enters her life, she invests her entire personality in him. When he leaves her, Hagar lacks the self she needs to survive. Pathetically, she tries to create a self that Milkman will want by buying makeup and clothes, turning her beautiful African hair a horrible orange (Milkman has been dating light-skinned redheads), and generally abasing herself. Morrison certainly deviates from
Because of the private nature of the tradition and because the methods can range so greatly, it is difficult to adequately assess the details of female genital cutting in Africa. The history of the tradition goes back thousands of years and is often (incorrectly) associated with religious dictates (von der Osten-Sacken & Uwer, 2007). It has long been associated with Islam, though there has been active opposition from many Islamic
When we look at Starkey's works we appear to be looking at moments captured from everyday life, in particular the everyday life of women. In fact Starkey's photographs are constructed, the people we are looking at are actors. Her images of modern banality also suggest ennui, despair, depression and listlessness, which are conveyed as central facets of the reality of life for women in society. As one critic describes her
' Thus the novel is just as unsparing in the way that it shows the limits of a female-dominant perspective that simply reverses the dominant paradigm of male dominance. For example, when Jael suspects a male still believes in the inequality of women, she kills him, and hopes that all of the main characters, whom she sees as 'the same' as herself, all part of the same woman yet existing
" Emecheta uses metaphors, similes and allusions with appropriate timing and tone in this book, and the image of a puppet certainly brings to mind a person being controlled, manipulated, made to comply instantly with any movement of the controlling hand. In this case Ego seems at the end of her rope -- the puppet has fallen nearly to the floor and is dangling helplessly. The Emecheta images and metaphors are
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