Literary qualities in Jacobs
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Right from the get-go the narrative style of incidents is a lot closer to Douglass’s writing than Stowe’s. Obviously this is in part due to the autobiographical nature of the novels, but it is also due to the writing style. Jacobs is far less verbose than Stowe while still managing to describe each event and feeling in detail. There is also far less use of dialect in Jacobs and Douglass than Stowe. This helps craft a different narrative of slaves by portraying them already as more educated and realistic figures that the occasionally cartoonish characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Again, obviously this comes from the fact that it is a memoir, but it is also a stylistic choice made by the author. A lot of the impact and emotion comes from the matter of fat descriptions of a lot of the experiences she had paired with simple thoughts from the author. Whereas Stowe had more big emotional scenes, Jacobs relies (very effectively) on a more simple style that is still very impactful.
I agree with you! Jacobs’ use of first-person narration is super powerful and creates a sense of immediacy and authenticity, which allows readers to connect with her story on a deeply personal level. As you say, her writing is highly descriptive, and her vivid picture of the brutalities of slavery evoke a strong emotional response that brings us into her world in a visceral way. I am also particularly struck by her honesty and sincerity; she writes with a raw honesty about her own feelings of fear, pain, and hopelessness, as well as the gleams of hope and resilience she finds.
I found also found it interesting how closely related the styles of these three books are. It is clear that Stowe, Douglass, and Jacobs are all writing for similar audiences with similar purposes. Their respective books discuss similar ideas and use similar stylistic choices to best reach their audience.
I agree, for example in Stowe’s narrative, she strays away from too many explicit scenes to make sure that her audience members will read the entire piece. We talked about in class how Stowe did not mention many details of sexual abuse in slavery to maintain some form of “modesty” for a very religious audience.