Comparing And Contrasting Harriet Jacobs And Fredrick Douglass's Gender Roles In Their Experience With Slavery.
Jacobs and Douglass.
Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass are two powerful writers who each addressed their heartfelt story of enslavement. Jacobs was a young female who was born into slavery while Douglass was a male slave who was harshly treated. They each told their compelling narratives about their experience with being a slave. Jacob's account deals with the personal abuses that she suffered as a woman. Specifically how she had to overcome the surrendering of her chastity to another. She had a desire for a home and family, but she was given no choice for these matters. This is why she remarked, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (1770). Douglass" account addresses slavery as an unethical institution, as he tells his triumph over adversity by escaping. Douglass" said, "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man"(2069). Both these narratives account for the contrasting gender differences of being a slave and show how they overcame this affliction. .
In addition to being enslaved, Jacob's had to overcome the obstacle of being female as well. Her remark that, "slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" was strongly portrayed in her account. Jacobs fell in love, wanted to get married and raise a family, however this could never happen because of her master. She wanted to have children, but offspring were constricted to "follow the condition of the mother" (1765). This would ultimately mean that any child she bears would be forced into enslavement. She then said, "For his sake, I felt that I ought not to link his fate with my own unhappy destiny" (1765). This shows that she did not want the lives of her children to be like her own. She proceeded to say, "the dream of my girlhood was over" (1765).