The Images of White Womanhood in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Abstract

Black women’s literature especially, slave narratives, are generally considered as a resistance against the white male hegemony. But, if we go deep into it we notice, woven in the intricate weave of the narrative, the stories of the white women as well. Complex relationships between black and white women and between white men and white women are depicted in these records of American history. The present paper is an analysis the relationship of the white women to their circumstances as depicted in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Incidents is a compelling true story about the physical and psychological oppression of the black slave women in the south but it is also a story that breaks many a myth about the southern white women as well. Key words: Slave Narrative; Black American Literature; Slavery; Cult of True Womanhood; Oppression; Racism; White Male Hegemony; Deep South