Lay Down Your Arms

In Harriet Jacobs’, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs utilizes diction in an isolated moment to construct the hostile relationship between a slave and her master. Jacobs frames a longer exchange between Dr. Flint and Linda, actively transitioning from dialogue into the narrative form where the reader is guided towards the diction. …

Manipulation of a Callous Touch

In her novel, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs reflects on her relationship with her master, using touch to highlight slave women’s experience with sexual abuse.  Jacobs’ manipulation of touch both exposes the sexual vulnerability of black women and highlights her cunning defensiveness to the violence of imposed white male dominance. …