Posted: December 2nd, 2022

Composition II Research Essay

Composition II

Composition II Research Essay:
Scholarly Analysis of the American Slave Narrative

Slavery as a whole is tortured bondage, a permanent jail to those who fall into it. In some cases, there is no escape. Until on a very slight whim there is escape for some but not many. With the horrors of slavey comes with concepts such as resistance, rebellion, and disobedience, due to the treatment slaves received. Even though they were subjected to treatment as if they were not human, there would be times where a slave would no longer go on with this life anymore. Hence, the rebellion to their masters, whether it was physical abuse to their masters, disobeying their orders, or the most rebellious one of all, running away to the north. Former slaves Harriot Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass are a prime example of a disobedient slave, but disobedient in this concept is not negative, it is the complete opposite. These rebellious actions are a key concept that led to abolition of slavery.
Fredrick Douglass and Harriot Jacobs were both born into slavery, which can have the effect of just going along with what they were given with. Until something sparked in each one of them that led to their escapes. For Douglass this spark was learning how to read and write. This was forbidden for slaves due to the masters believing that if a slave was educated, they would

become harder to control. Not only where slaves were rebellious, in some cases the mistress and kids of the masters would rebel against common rules of owning a slave. This is how Douglass learned how to read and write, through the teachings of his mistress and manipulation of their son. Whether the mistress and child knew it was rebellious, maybe to them it was just a good deed. But for Douglass it was the beginning of the end for his slave life. Douglass growing up was in a way ignorant of his circumstances, and was a very good slave to his masters, would rarely cause issues. This is till he learned how to read and write. He began to really see what it is like to be a slave, which angered him. His rebellious thoughts soon stirred up when an Irish man asked him “Are you a slave for life?”. This question really got him thinking that he in fact does not want to be a slave for life and must do something about it. Not only was it disobedient to read and write for a slave, which he already did, but to have thoughts about running away to the north was the worst thing a slave can do to their masters. The north had free states that had people who wanted to abolish slavery. That is exactly what Douglass did, ran away to the north to freedom. He got that freedom, but that did not secure his safety. During this time the Fugitive Slave Act was in order even in free states. The act granted masters and even slave hunters to grab and return a runaway slave back to the south regardless of them being free or in a free state. Because of this, Douglass was still hiding for a while. Until he decided to join abolition groups which inspired him to write his book and tell his story. In the preface of Douglass’s book, the man who wrote it knew Douglass because of his attendance in these groups. To run away and actually succeed in doing so was rebellious itself, but to write a book and actually put the names of people who abused him was even more rebellious.

Harriot Jacobs may have similar experiences to Douglass, but her resistance to slavery and her masters can been seen as very different compared to Douglass. Jacobs being a woman has a major impact on her resistance. For women in slavery there more than just physical abuse, they also dealt with sexual abuse. Regardless of their age, their masters would prey on them, and they would have to comply due to them having no rights. Slaves were property and the masters could do what they pleased with their property. In some instances, a slave would end up impregnated, the child would later be born into slavery and most likely bought and sold to another master. Jacobs was aware of this life that and was not going to be forced to be a victim of that lifestyle. Jacob’s master had this of sexual manipulation mindset towards her. When she started growing up, Dr.Flint would attempt to make Jacob’s subject to him and his needs. However, Jacobs was a very stubborn and independent women, she would not fall beneath his knees as he wished. For a slave this was a major disobedience, not only was a slave not following orders, but the master’s pride was hurt by someone who was considered property. To make matters worse for Jacob’s, her mistress began to become jealous of Dr.Flint’s attention towards Jacob’s. As she got older it continued to get worse for her. She always attempted to reject his advances, but sometimes his power overthrew her. Not only was her resistance towards her master impactful but her actions with the neighbor as well. Jacobs gave birth to two children with the neighbor, who happened to be a young white lawyer, Samuel Fredwell Sawyer. When Jacobs refused to be Dr.Flints concubine she was sent to another plantation. The mental torment, fear, and trying to protect herself, and now her kids became too much for her. Jacobs fled her master and spent the next seven years in hiding to force the sale of her children. Afterwards, Jaocbs went to the north where she was met with her kids due to their father buying them and sending them to the north.

Just as Douglass did, Jacobs wrote her stories, in her stories she used different names of the people who affected her life out of respect. Usually when a slave runs away to the north, they keep a low radar just in case someone attempts to send them back into slavery. With Douglass and Jacobs, they decided to take the risk to raise awareness of what slavery is really like. Both their main audiences were white people those who owned and did not own slaves, they were both hoping that slavery would be abolished, and it will never happen again. Eventually, slavery was abolished, Douglass and Jacobs may both have has successfully left slavery and wrote powerful books, but they still have the past trauma of what it was like to be enslaved.
Not only did Douglass and Jacobs write a slave narrative, Solomon Northup wrote a slave 55 ㅡ,ㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅔ[;’]\

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