Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriett Jacobs (Linda Brent), is a compelling novel meant to evoke a feminist voice in its readers. Jacobs uses the power of her words and experiences as a slave to draw out the feminist in men and women, but specifically in the white, Northern woman. She looks to draw out "an abolitionist voice [that she, a] slave mother is depending on her white, Northern, female readers to find within themselves" (Blackford 314). She tells a tale of torture, loss of innocence, and triumph with a hope that its readers would stand up against the wrongdoers and become unblinded by the laws of respectability of other white men. This slave woman suffered unspeakably and in an effort to shield her children and her children's children Jacobs wrote Incidents, to reach out to the feminist and humanist in each reader.
             By definition, Jacobs is a feminist in that she hopes for a better life for her daughter and all of the daughters yet to come. Jacobs had no desire for either of her children to suffer through the bondage of slavery. "I would ten thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be the most pampered among the slaves of America" (34). Jacobs had experienced first hand the offensive acts that were committed against slaves, especially slave women, and she did not desire that for her innocent children.
             In response to her strong feelings against her children, particularly her daughter, being subjected to this slavery she called out to the reader for compassion. She told the stories of her inappropriate treatment and how she was "compelled to drink the cup of sin" (29) in an effort to shed light on the secrets of the southern white man. She knew that this treatment was going to continue in each generation and felt Northern women were her best chance at assistance and relief of this hateful life of servit
             ...