Stirring up the North to See the Horrors of Slavery...

Educating the North of the horrors of slavery through the use of literature was one strategy that led to the questioning, and ultimately, the abolition of slavery. Therefore, Harriet Jacobs’s narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is very effective in using various tactics in order to get women in the North to pay attention and question the horrifying conditions in the South. By acknowledging that not all slaveholders were inhumane, explaining the horrific abuse and punishments slaves endured, and comparing the manner in which whites and slaves spent their holidays, Jacobs’s narrative serves its purpose of arousing Northern women to take notice of the appalling conditions two million Southern slaves continued to endure. If†¦show more content†¦Jacobs found her new home to be a happy one for â€Å"no toilsome or disagreeable duties were imposed upon [her]† (7). Jacobs’s mistress was â€Å"so kind to [her] that [she] was always glad to do her bidding, and proud to labor for her† (7). Needless to say, Jacobs and her mistress had a wonderful relationship. They sewed together and Jacobs’s mistress even taught her to read and spell, which was very uncommon and forbidden. When Jacobs was twelve, her mistress sickened, and Jacobs â€Å"earnestly prayed in [her] heart that she might live†¦ [She] loved her; for she had been almost like a mother to [her]† (7). Jacobs shares the relationship she had with her mistress in order to show women in the North that not all slaveholders were inhumane. In doing so, Jacobs hopes to get Northern women to take notice of her narrative, read it, and provoke them to want to change the conditions in the South. Unfortunately, people like Jacobs’s mistress were â€Å"like angels’ visits-few and far between† (50). Typically, slaves were viewed as â€Å"merely a piece of property† (10), and therefore, this ideology reflected how masters and mistresses punished their slaves. Such punishments included â€Å"whipping slaves until pools of blood filled their feet, the tearing of flesh by hounds, men screwed into cotton gins to die, and even more alarming, young girls dragged down into moral filth† (74). By the age of fifteen, or what Jacobs referred to as â€Å"the sad