Critical Response on Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass
Both Douglass and Jacobs were inspirational icons for the African-Americans in American history. Their contributions to the abolition of slavery and liberalism of the African-American race in the U.S. are very notable and important too; not only for honor but also important to American literature. They both lived during the period of the Antebellum (1820 - 1865) when the abolition of slave trade was a big issue in the country. At this time, most writers were writing on the subject of slavery. The works of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave respectively, were narratives of …show more content…

This narrative I’m sure inspired a lot of other writers to write and educate people on the subject of slavery.
Also inspirational is the story of Frederick Douglass, originally born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, a slave. Frederick disliked the culture of slavery. Like in the account of Jacobs, Frederick was separated from his mother at a very early age and never knew his father. His narrative paints different clear pictures of ill-treatment and the descriptions of his experiences were well detailed to assure credibility and discount of friction but pure reality and truth. In it he does not write for the mere purpose of convincing the reader but he writes to tell the truth about everything that had happened to him from childhood all the way to adulthood.
In his narrative, Frederick mentions the continuous change of masters and overseers, again another similarity to that of Harriet Jacobs. The tone with which he gives this account was not one coming from a person speaking with love but hatred for the other party. He shows how much he disliked the idea of enslavement and the effects slavery had on every person. Frederick himself experienced some moments of mixed feelings towards his enslavers but the unpleasant always outweighed the pleasant.
Furthermore, like Jacobs Douglass’ education did not come easy