Comparing and contrasting the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass Essay

Comparing and contrasting the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs - Essay Example Douglas was born into slavery on the shore of Maryland in 1818 and successfully escaped in 1838 after which he settled in Bedford. While there, he got involved with Massachusetts Anti-Slavery society and lectured audiences about slavery. Later, he wrote his book and became an American abolition movement leader. Jacobs was also born into slavery in 1813 in North Carolina. She was taught to read and write by her master who later died and she was left under his relatives. Her new master attempted to sexually abuse her which led her to spend seven years in hiding. She later worked as a domestic servant in New York and eventually settled in Massachusetts in 1862. It is after this that she wrote her slave narrative. Both writers’ lives as slaves had great effects on their writings. Douglas life as a slave enabled him to bring out the necessary emotion and experiences of a slave and hence becoming a victorious abolitionist writer. Having grown up as a slave and experiencing the hards hips of slavery such as lack of meals and whipping, his desire for freedom led him to write successful stories about his miserable life (Douglas 97). In Jacob’s narrative, she condemns slavery by revealing the horrifying mistreatments of the slaves in her time. She advances the view that slavery is a curse both to the whites and the blacks. She says â€Å"I never would consent to give my past life to anyone, for I will do it without giving the whole truth, if I could help save another from fate, it would be selfish and unchristian of me to keep it back†. Slave narratives were then used to show why the abolition of slavery was justified and thus their success lied on how well they presented the abuses in the system. Today, the narratives are used as an instrument to study the slavery institution and to examine the narrator’s capability to define them in the world. This new focus has