Devices in Slavery Douglas/Jacobs..(did u hate this as much as i did UGH)

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl moved me being a young African American female. The stories from Harriet Jacobs were very moving and affective the way they were written. The events took place in the 1820s, as she grew up on a plantation yearning for her freedom. The preface and autobiography gave a greater meaning to the story. They allowed the reader to establish a relationship with the narrator through an appeal to ethos. It’s hard to strike compassion for a person that is unknown to a you, versus someone in which you have in a sense watched “grow up”, as you read the passages. The better you understand their struggle the more you become connected to the story; meaning the author has captured your attention. By capturing your attention through the character, the author is appealing to pathos. Establishing an emotional bond with the characters allowing for growth in both the characters and the audience. While reading the childhood, and the lover, I couldn’t help but to reflect on how I would feel in those situations. Thus causing me to grow in a sense of speaking with the characters.

Jacob’s told her story to the audience in one of the most moving ways, by telling her own story. By being honest and by telling of your actual events creates a sense of trust and credibility within the author. However during the preface to Harriet Jacobs, in the introduction by the editor it was stated, “At her request, I have revised her manuscript; but such changes as I have made have been mainly for purpose of condensation and orderly arrangement.” This contributes to the honesty of the author by admitting yes the manuscript was revised, but kept true to its original nature. The audience is anyone who chooses to relate to the story of a young slave girl growing up without parents, one day being denied of her true love. The book was aimed at African Americans of the modern age, under the inference that African Americans in that time period were not privileged in reading or writing.“ While I was with her, she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of a slave.”(Childhood) Similar to the writing of Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglas, attempts to make a connection with his audience. However his approach is in the form of a narrative, meaning he is directly telling is own story. While in Jacobs account, she tells her story, but then pauses to indirectly acknowledge the audience “"Reader, did you ever hate?" (Jacobs) In both stories, Douglas and Jacobs lose their mothers at a young age, striking a similar emotion within their audiences. Likewise references to the skin were made. “My mother was a darker complexion than either my grandmother or grandfather. My father was a white man.”(Douglas) “In complexion my parents were a light shade of brownish yellow, and were termed mulattos” (Jacobs). This leaves the belief that your skin color determined your social status in life. The storied may be different, but the plot is all the same. Jacobs and Douglas are two distinguished authors, with similar styles contrasting them.

In both prefaces, under slight research, it is proven that both authors are white. In a way it’s sort of ironic that white people are writing the prefaces to stories about slavery, and oppression. It is also ironic that they had such close relationships with Douglas and Jacobs when it was shameful to befriend a person of color. The fact that there are white authors contributing ideas to a sensitive African American topic is a loss of appeal in ethos. African Americans were giving the opportunity to bond over the shaping of their culture, but then slapped in the face when the white authors put in their two cents; even if it was just in the preface. It would be awkward for a white author to try to relate and establish a relationship with an audience whose ancestors they once inflicted pain upon. It’s plausible, that white authors were used to attract an audience to the book. People of color had to money to purchase the publication, let alone have the money to publish it, or the skill to read the manuscript. Therefore it had to be sent with the advertisement of someone not of color.