From the times of ancient Egypt to the present, millions of slaves have lived and died without name for the story. Their lives did not belong to them, their bodies did not belong to them, and even more so they did not own their names, they were renamed as easily as their masters wanted. Plus the story of those who remained in the memory of humanity is something brighter than the topic of buying and selling "two-legged cattle", powerless property. The first works that laid the foundation for African-American literature were slave narratives. These are autobiographical stories told to white copy editors or written by the fugitive or freed slaves themselves. Most often, the authors of these stories were men, but there are a small number of works of this genre written by women. They include Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, studied in this analysis using the comparative-stylistic method, motivational and biographical methods. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayHarriet Ann Jacobs was a black slave born in captivity from the early 19th century. She was born into a family of a mulatto roofer and a tavern slave, and they were owned by different owners. Harriet's mother died when Harriet was six years old, and the mother's mistress took the baby into her upbringing. This was a colossal success for the future writer, because she learned to read with her mistress – in slave stories, the authors recall how they could learn to write and read, they certainly remember the first books or the letter that they read; the most important books for them, symbolizing the letter itself, reflect on the role of literacy, letters and books in their lives. The mistress died when Harriet was twelve. According to the will, Harriet should have passed into the possession of the mistress's mother, but things change and Harriet finds herself a slave to James Norcom. He harassed Harriet from the moment she introduced him to her property. He also rejected her requests to marry anyone. In 1861, Harriet Jacobs published a book under another name in which she spoke frankly about the rape of black slaves. She bitterly recalled how the masters spoke about faith and Christian virtues, but quietly violated the commandments when it came to slaves – the same Christians, and they confessed their faith at the insistence of the masters. Like the pagans of ancient Rome, many owners enjoyed bloody spectacles. And every slave owner, without exception, raped his slaves, considering his own children descended from the same slaves, considering them not to be their own flesh and blood. The book came out incredibly scandalous - not because of the background information that many probably knew, but because of its frank presentation. Besides black women, Irish women and Gypsies were constantly raped during the colonization of America. They were frankly used to obtain more black slaves, subjugating them to men from a young age. The mulatto daughters of these European slaves were used in the same way and from the same years. By the 19th century, this practice had already disappeared, but its victims were thousands of girls and women – because of the greed of slave traders and slave owners. Like any other type of narrative biography, slave narratives were constructed according to certainrules. For example, in the genre of slave narratives, whose authors were men, literacy becomes the main tool in the fight against the system. Harriet Jacobs deviated from this rule and gave rise to another tradition, which found its embodiment in the works of subsequent generations of women writers - African-American women. The main idea that runs through all of the author's work is the idea of ​​​​the immeasurability of the pain of many men and women who survived in slavery. According to her, a woman becomes a slave not because she is subjected to all the ordeals that affect men (overwork, hunger, flogging, etc.), but she also becomes a victim of even more severe torture, reserved by the owners of 'slaves especially for them. her. According to Harriet, for women, slavery was much worse than for men, as they suffered much greater suffering and humiliation, especially their own. By this torture, she means forced sexual slavery, which slaves were forced to endure. Even if their whole nature was against it, in one way or another, the hosts forced them to accept another part of their existence in the South. The authors attempt to reconsider these oppositions and to prove (by the example of their heroines) that most slaves did not accept the fate imposed by the slave owners, but retained their identity (both personal and ethnic). Slave owners erased all possible sources of identification, even those given by nature, for example gender and age. This practice began in childhood, when child slaves of both sexes walked almost naked due to lack of clothing, and then adult men and women (not related by kinship) often slept in the same room. When valuing property, women were subjected to the same demeaning scrutiny as men. Most male writers have remained silent on this aspect of slavery. They were forced to adhere to a defensive position so that with one careless word they would not cast a shadow over their entire race and preferred to avoid topics that could cause a negative attitude towards the African-American race. Harriet Jacobs could not follow their example if she wanted to accurately portray her story, because the entire life of an enslaved woman fell within what was considered taboo in white society. It is not surprising that, in describing the shameful practice of sexual violence, she does not cite the specific names of the women she knows, but simply uses the pronoun “she” in a general sense. Per Warner, Jacobs changed the names of towns and called all of her familiars fictitious names, because she believed that she was acting humanely towards other people, in addition that preserving their anonymity not only serves as a protection for slaves in escape and to those who helped them, but also a proposal for symbolic names in order to reinforce the role of certain figures. Harriet Jacobs, as she was afraid of publicity, did not have the courage to publish her book under her real name, so she took the pseudonym Linda Brent, through whom she became known. In her heroine, the writer shows another way of approaching the system. The very beginning of his narration differs from the then accepted models: after the first sentence, beginning with “I was born”, there follows a short story about the parents, with the reference to the white father. She didn't even change the first sentence, but then she talks about the happiest period of her life – her childhood at the age of six, when she still didn't understand her social status, because she lived in her family, surrounded by the love and care of black parents. Historycarries its own emotional charge, especially when it involves a forbidden sexual relationship with a white man and the torment caused by his shame. The narrative recounts life through the eyes of a slave, his existence and the world, with details regarding personal life and perception, time and place, and the sequence of events. Harriet was a beautiful woman, which she often regretted, the Lord had given her beauty, but this turned out to be the greatest curse for her. Harriet's constant resistance to Dr. Flint didn't mean she didn't pay attention to other men. How could a poor slave fight with her master and take him? She decided to choose her own lover (a single white man who was interested in her), in this she felt something akin to freedom. She falls in love with her old friend, a free carpenter, who proposes to her and plans to buy her back. Harriet knew that Flint would not agree to sell her, and she would only marry a slave. Nevertheless, Harriet apprehensively asked Dr. Flint for permission to marry. According to Jacobs, Dr. Flint pounced on her like a tiger and hit her very hard, his fear did not even allow him to control his anger because it was the very first time he had hit her, and when she recovered, she exclaimed that she despised him. For almost a week after that, Dr. Flint looked at her maliciously and remained silent. Soon, when he saw her talking to her lover in the street, he swore at her and beat her. Almost immediately, Harriet repented, she was burned with shame, because, in punishing the owner, she punished herself; because of her act, she lost what her loved ones appreciated her for, humiliated herself, being like many other slaves. In desperation, Harriet asked her lover to move to a free state, telling him that she would soon come to see him with her brother. But the flight was impossible. Harriet was under constant surveillance, she had no money. Ultimately, Harriet gave up on her dream and chose a different path for herself. The story is vibrant with emotion, it is rich in metaphors and comparisons: “tendrils of the heart”, “pious soul”, “merciless hand”. The descriptions are rather detailed, the sentences have an easy-to-understand construction used to convey emotions and feelings, images and phenomena. The author's use of language shapes the mood of the story, she hoped that "the dark clouds around me would turn into a bright glow." She is very expressive, she constantly asks questions (including rhetorical), exclaims and helps to feel the atmosphere, to visit the places she tells about. Of course, there is a place for a certain "imposition" of the author's experiences, however, it creates a mood, conveys sensations. Some slaves committed suicide, but someone found refuge in faith. Christianity proved to be the religion of the slaves of the South; religion offered slaves not only means of escaping the hardships of daily life, but also the opportunity to establish themselves as individuals. This is why, for the Africans who found themselves in the New World, and for their descendants, the first, for a long time, the Bible was the only book of all time. Harriet Jacobs recalls how willingly, diligently, and successfully, secretly on the part of whites, under real threat of cruel carts to both teacher and student, fifty-three-year-old Uncle Fred really wanted to learn by reading the Bible, I learned to read, to live according to the word of God and to draw closer to God. Jacobs herself views literacy, the ability to read, as "thefountain of life for souls who thirst for it.” In the Bible, they, the newly converted Christians, sought the highest truth, the revelation of God, faith. The Christian religion and the Bible had a profound effect on their worldview, moral values, behavior, language and artistic creation. Jacobs debunks the hypocritical religiosity of slave owners and contrasts it with the sincere, deep, humane faith of slaves. The contrast that runs through all the incidents of a slave's life is that of the true Christian virtues of her grandmothers and the foundations of life with which Dr. Flint lived: hypocrisy, self-righteousness, greed and cruelty. Jacobs devotes a separate chapter XIII to the problem of “Church and Christianity,” with spiritualism becoming a leitmotif, which satirically depicts Satan: “Old Satan is a busy old man; He rolls the blocks as I pass; But Jesus is my close friend; He drives the blocks. » Jacobs used the spiritual as a satirical framework for the episode, which she often remembers as undeniable proof of the injustice of slave owners. During the prayer meeting in the Methodist Church, led by a man who bought and sold slaves, fell into the spiritual with brothers and sisters - the parishioners of his church, he asked God to pray to an unfortunate mother slave, who had her last child sold the day before. The voice of this wretch and the cry of the mother, the contrast of his true faith and his deepest sadness are his pompous and hypocritical teachings. The entire chapter is compelling and moving evidence of a paradox: not illiterate slaves, but slave owners – pagans who do not know the moral commandments of Christ. It is known that the foundations of self-identification are laid from childhood due to the child's communication with parents and other family members. Relationships within the family play an important role in a person's development; they help not only to self-determine but also simply to survive. Female authors describe their parents' lives and relationships since most of them have dark-skinned fathers (only Mr. Prince is the daughter of a white man), they know the family history. (parents tell their children about sold family members, preserving them, which means creating bonds with loved ones). In the pages of the stories of female authors, various relatives are constantly mentioned who, in words and deeds, try to teach the heroines how to live (this is, first of all, the moral and religious aspect), to assist them . In cases where the slave's mother died very young or if they were separated from each other very early, the image of the mother may appear to the daughter in visions and guide her, or a good woman can replace the mother. It was Harriet's grandmother who taught her to act, she told her about the need for moral and spiritual purity, respect for the laws of morality. As for relatives, the grandmother showed her granddaughter what family is and how to treat loved ones. She worked tirelessly to redeem her child, the children in return took care of her and repaid with the same love. Jacobs attempts to deconstruct the central opposition "white - black" and shows the discrepancy between skin color and the inner essence expressed by this color, a simple juxtaposition of the adjectives "white" and "black" to describe a person: “This white A brother with a black face and a black heart has come to us.” In other words, she wants to show that skin color does not determine the essence of a person, which means that such opposition is false. Moreover, in the stories.