Harriet Beecher Stowe And Harriet Jacobs: A Literary Analysis

Many individuals think literature is merely an anthology of writings from famous writers throughout history, however, literature is more than the sum of its parts. It uses those writings to develop a common theme in which a society and a cultural identity have developed throughout the years in its ideology to synthesize a product that is greater than the aggregation of various writings. American Literature, therefore, is the sum of the perspectives from various diverse groups of people along plus the political and philosophical structure of society which combine to form the foundation of various revolutions for equality.

First and foremost, the founding of the U.S. is credited to the winning of the Revolutionary War. In order to fuel this

and the reality. To convey the atrocities that marginalized groups faced, many authors sought to give a voice to these groups by writing stories with themes about what they observed. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Jacobs both use their privilege as educated citizens and their marginalized experience as women to communicate the experiences of slaves. Both Jacobs’ Life of a Slave Girl and Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin tells the story of people who have been separated from their families and forced to perform laborious tasks while facing the cruelty and sexual assault from their slave masters (Bayne 780-790, 819-839). While both authors present a similar story with similar events Jacobs gives a primary account of slavery by emotionally connecting with all of slavery’s brutality while Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin gives a more impartial judgment to the situation through observation. Essentially, both perspectives give a holistic view of the given situation and provide the ideological support to strengthen the argument against slavery and in favor of joining the abolitionist movement. Because both pieces of literature gained an international presence, the gospel of abolition spread and gained support (“Abolitionist Movement”). In respect to Jacobs’ and Stowe’s work, the support for the Abolitionist movement ultimately pushes America toward political action in the form of the Civil War that underscores the thematic goal and expectation of American society from its founding: that all men are created