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How Is Harriet Jacobs Alike

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People who go through similar tragic events often have very different perspectives about rather similar experiences. There are many reasons for people’s stories to different even if they are about the exact same event. People perceive things differently based on things they have been through, how good their memory is, and what their attitude is towards the subject. The stories Slave Narratives by Fredrick Douglass and Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs are both about the writer’s experiences as slaves, yet they are very different. The main differences include their masters, their placement as slaves, and what drove them towards freedom. First off, the main masters of Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were completely …show more content…

Each change of master held new things for Douglass. Early on he was taught that mistakes were met with harsh punishment when his aunt was brutally beaten. As he went through the next few masters he was met with compassion and education, but before he was free he worked as a field hand and he was met with the philosophy he learned from his first master. These different interactions introduced Douglass to reading and education but also the evils of the power of one human over another. Jacobs had in the early part of her childhood a caring master who taught her to read, but once she died Jacobs was given to a relative. This relative, Dr. Flint made sexual advances toward Jacobs leading her to have an affair with a neighbor whom she preferred. This oppression from her master lead to her children and they ended up being the most positive thing in her life. Jacobs had to hide in an attic to stay with her children instead of running to freedom. Douglass’s worst master just brutalized him and caused him to fight his master taking power from him and it caused him to lose his humanity. This fight between Douglass and his master Covey Douglass says was the “turning point in my career as a slave” and it lead to a better life for Douglass (2207). This lead Douglass on a trail of being loaned out to other masters until he could save money and escape to New York. Jacobs had her children indirectly due to the master she had and the people she knew while Douglass had to fight his master to eventually earn his way to

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