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What Are The Similarities Between Harriet Jacobs And Jane Eyre

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We will analyse, in this essay, the differences as well as the similarities which exist between Jane Eyre and Incidents in the life of a slave girl written by herself. We will see that they differ in terms of genre, the period of history in which they find themselves, the way the characters are presented and so forth. However, they share some of the main values concerning womanhood, race and some other aspects of life which they both treat in different ways and yet they do so in a specific aim. Charlotte Brontë and Harriet Jacobs present to us two texts which are both based in totally opposite moments in history. While many differences exist between the two texts, they have several aspects in common. Jane Eyre is presented as a fiction, encompassing the romance and gothic genre. Jacob’s text, on the other hand, is a narrative non-fiction and an autobiography of Harriet Jacobs herself as Linda Brent. At first glance, everything opposes Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the life of a slave girl and Brontë’s Jane Eyre. However, if we dig a little further, we see that the two texts share some similarities. Both texts are based on the Bildungsroman genre, whereby we follow the lives of the main characters as they progress through their life. The two writers made use of a pseudonym while publishing their works. Jane Eyre was written under the name of Currer Bell and Incidents under the …show more content…

An author may make use of a pseudonym for several reasons. With their writing becoming public comes a certain responsibility which the author had to accept. As Carby brings

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