The Self-Narrative Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

Slave-narratives reconstruct and critique the ‘peculiar’ institution of slavery, eliciting anger against its irrationality and inhumanity. Harriet Jacobs wrote her self-narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl under the pseudo name of ‘Linda’ to hide her identification. Her narrative not only testifies the cruelty of slavery under the domain of physical as well as psychological violence and trauma, but also incorporates a process of self-discovery, hope for freedom from their oppression, equality and a new world of happiness distinct from what is encountered in the narratives of male slaves. The black slave women unlike black men who could choose not to father coherent choose between freedom and motherhood. For them the apocalypse was