Self-study
P1
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)
Jacobs' rationale ·
Appeal to free women, gain their sympathy, broaden their understanding
P2
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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
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
13.
With which one of the █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████
a
Some authors of █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ █████ ███ ████████████
Not supported, because the author denies the view that Jacobs allowed the domestic novel genre to overshadow her own experiences. The critics would agree with (A), but not the author.
b
The slave narrative, ██ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████████ █ ████████ ██████
Supported, because the author indicates that the
c
Authors who write ██ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ██████
Not supported, because although Jacobs wrote a narrative that was part of the domestic novel genre, it didn’t conform to the conventions of that genre in every way. Rather, the narrative showed that certain aspects of the protagonist
d
An autobiography, no ████ ████ █ ██████ ██████ ████ █ ████████ ██████
Not supported, because the author never indicates an opinion about the level of power in a story and whether autobiographies should seek to tell stories that are powerful. In fact, the author never expresses an opinion about what an autobiography “should” do. She does describe what Jacobs’ novel in fact does, but this doesn’t tell us what the author believes autobiographies should do.
e
Autobiographies should be █████████ ███ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ █████████
The author never expresses an opinion about how autobiographies “should be evaluated.” The author focuses on showing that critics’ view of what Jacobs’ narrative does is wrong; but the author never suggests that the critics were evaluating autobiographies using the wrong criteria.