PrepTest 109 - Section 2 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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The autobiographical narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861), by Harriet A. ███████ █ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ █ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ █████ ███ █ ██████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ ███

Intro topic · Autobiography of Harriet A. Jacobs

Provides the perpective of a female slave

Jacob's narrative approach · Genre of the domestic novel

Emphasized popular values (e.g., the importance of marriage, identity, home, and family)

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Jacobs' rationale · Appeal to free women, gain their sympathy, broaden their understanding

Critics' perspective · Using genre conventions detracts from Jacobs' narrative

The conventions of the sentimental domestic novel overshadow the slave narrative in Jacobs' story

Author's perspective · Jacobs' use of genre conventions provides greater perspective on slavery

Uses the genre to contrast the lives of free women and of slave women

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Illustrate contrast · between typical sentimental domestic narrative and Jacobs' version

Protagonist doesn't marry love interest, leaves family and child to pursue freedom

Jacobs' perspective · Slave women's views and experiences are very different from those of free women

Main point · Jacobs' narrative should be viewed as "antidomestic novel"

Uses conventions of domestic genre to subvert that same genre, highlights the need for a different perspective to understand the lives of slave women

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Spotlight

12.

The author describes Jacobs's narrative ██ ██ █████████████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████

Question Type

Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

The author uses this phrase as part of a response to the critics’ position at the beginning of P2. Contrary to the critics’ view, Jacobs’ narrative does not conform to the convention of the domestic novel at the expense of the slavery aspects of the narrative. Rather, Jacobs’ narrative involves critique of the domestic novel and places importance on the slavery aspects of the narrative.

Jacobs's protagonist does ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████

We don’t have any evidence that Jacobs’ protagonist does not lament her separation from her family. “Antidomestic” does not describe Jacobs’ protagonist’s mindset. It’s used to describe the narrative’s relationship to domestic conventions.

Jacobs's protagonist is ███████████ ██████ █████████████ ████████ ████████████

We don’t have any evidence that Jacobs’ protagonist does not desire stereotypical domestic things. “Antidomestic” does not describe Jacobs’ protagonist’s mindset. It’s used to describe the narrative’s relationship to domestic conventions.

Jacobs's narrative reveals ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██████

This is the best answer. (C) is the only answer that relates to criticism of the domestic novel. Rather than conform to the conventions of the domestic novel genre, Jacobs’ narrative shows that the domestic values of the genre don’t fit individuals subject to slavery. This goes against the critics’ view that the domestic novel genre overshadowed the slavery narrative in Jacobs’ work.

86%

Jacobs's narrative implicitly ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ███████

We have no evidence that the protagonist’s desire for domestic ideals contributes to her situation. She was enslaved — it’s unreasonable to think that her desire for domestic things contributed to her enslavement or to her separation from her family after she was freed.

Jacobs's narrative condemns ████████ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ █████████

Although the narrative shows that domestic values don’t necessarily apply in conventional ways to slaves, this doesn’t imply that they hold the protagonist back from developing personal identity.

PrepTest 109 - Section 2 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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