Perspective

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a personal memoir. In this work, one woman tells of her story about her experiences as a slave and her eventual escape from slavery. The reader hears about the events of this one woman's life and about her own thoughts and observations. Through her story one can get a better idea of how the millions of American women who were enslaved during that time would have suffered. While it may seem counterintuitive that a single first-person narrative may paint the best picture of the lives of millions in slavery, the format gives one a much more personal account of the horrors of slavery that one can't get from a broad, sweeping, third-person account of slavery in general.

At the time it was written, this narrative was intended to serve as a moving commentary on the era's most significant political...