Writing Homework Help

I need help with a Blog Post question. All explanations and answers will be used to help me learn.

What we learned from the preface of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is that Jacobs for one did not believe that she was capable of sharing her story from the standpoint of her literary abilities (“I wish I were more competent to the task I have undertaken”), and second that it was by no means an effort to gain publicity ( “I have not written my experiences in order to attract attention to myself”) for herself. So why would she choose to share her traumatic experience with the world?

She’s on to Something

The first thing to consider in order to answer this question is the time that her story was brought into the world, which was 1861. This is roughly two years prior to the Emancipation Proclamation being signed into law by president Lincoln. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not actually guarantee freedom for all of those enslaved, it was a major step in the right direction. But the important thing to consider here is that the talk of abolishing slavery was in the air around the time of Jacobs publication. With that being so i would say that joint the fight in support of this social problem was a main motivator for Jacobs.

Girl Power

Then we have the matter of understanding not only slave suffrage but also women suffrage. As Stated in the Preface, “But I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what i suffered, and most of them far worse.”, this tells us that Jacobs believed that if she was able to reach out to the hearts and minds of other women, then she would be able to help them understand the true suffrage that existed in this world. This can be seen as an attempt to make a connection between the commonality of women in hope of gaining support in the fighter against slavery. This can be especially powerful due to the graphic nature of events that we saw in just the first three chapters. Between rape and the taking/separation of children from mothers, this story should touch a part of any mother or woman for that matter. I suppose you could say a, woman to woman, kind of reach out.

Joining the Fight

Lastly we have the idea of Jacobs joining the fight since the fight had already begun. As we also see in the preface “I want to add my testimony to that of alber pens…”, this is Jacobs tell us that she understands not only her reasoning for writing about her experience, but she also want to support others who have already began to voice their options and stories. This tells us that Jacobs understood and respected others that have contributed to unveiling the dark side of America, and she wanted to stand with them. This was her way of contributing and supporting the cause at hand, and understood that if they were strong enough to tell their story, then so was she.

Conclusion

Although we can not necessarily understand Jacobs complete motivation behind sharing her story, we are able to gain some valuable insight on her possible ideals and reasonings behind her writing. She understood that her story was necessary to help her people and those still fighting for her freedom. Even in doubt of her own abilities she choose to stand up and share her horrific experiences not for her own attention but to bring attention to the problem as a whole for the possibility of change. The powerful messages that Jacobs was able to share through her writing is still being used today, and I am sure of she was here to see it she would be even more proud of herself and her people for being able to share this story.

Discussion Questions….

1. I listed three of the major motivators that I found for Jacobs telling her story; are there anymore that you have found?

2. What would you say is Jacobs strongest motivation for sharing her story? What are some examples in the text?

3. How’s important do you believe Jacobs contribution to the movement at the time was?