Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is powerful in many ways, but one way that may be more powerful is that she makes a personal connection with the reader. By using a voice that easily allows connection, she makes a bigger impact with what she is saying. Jacobs is constantly questioning the reader and making sure that they are “listening” to what she is saying. She causes the reader to feel a certain attachment to her, and to want to root for her to get out of this wretched situation. Jacobs’ narrative voice does make a certain connection with women more so than men. As we know, this narrative was written in hopes that the women of the north would learn of all the atrocities happening to slave women. Jacobs uses her voice, and her feminism to entice the reader into continuing the narrative, we feel the pain that she feels as she is separated from her children, and the joy she feels when she realizes that they are finally free (139-140 Jacobs). By talking about the pains that her children have to go through, and having to leave her own children in order for them to be free, the reader sees the strength that she has, and I know that I wonder if I would have the same strength. She connects with the women readers through the horrors that happened to her that no man could understand, no matter how hard they tried. Men can sympathize for her, but women can empathize with her, which makes this narrative more powerful for women.
I found an article comparing and discussing Douglass’s narrative to Jacobs narrative:
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