The purpose of this narrative is to redefine the African American slave woman and show her as a normal human being, equal to white Americans, with feelings and sentimental value. Harriet Jacobs plays with the reader's emotions and sensibilities, by using themes like motherhood, family loyalty, religion, and feminine wit. According to Rosemarie Garland Thompson, "Sympathy is an effective rhetorical strategy in women's writing because it combines and embodies the fundamental elements of the feminine script" (Thompson 131). By using sympathy in her writing, Harriet Jacobs makes her readers want to help reform the South and makes them feel the pains Linda goes through in this novel.

The theme of religion is one of the first to be used. Faith is an important factor in a slave's life, for it is one of the few things they have to keep on going in a life of persecution. However, religion...