From Bondage to Advocacy : Gender, Double Consciousness and Abolitionist Persuasion in Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to explore how the interplay between gender and double consciousness is used as a rhetorical device in Harriet Jacobs’ autobiographical narrative “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” (1861). Through a feminist theoretical lens and the concept of double consciousness I provide examples from the text illustrating Jacobs’ strategic use of different narrative techniques to convey her abolitionist message.Formulärets överkant The analysis delve into the intricate dual identities that Jacobs’ struggles with as an enslaved woman lacking autonomy, while simultaneously trying to live up to society’s expectation of a “good” woman in the antebellum South. The gendered version of double consciousness works persuasively and highlights her complex situation. By portraying the challenges of an oppressed woman striving to meet societal ideals, Jacobs encourages her readers to support the abolitionist cause.