Comparison of the life story of Frederick Douglass, an American slave and incidents in the life of a slave girl What drives a person to write about his life? What motivates us to read it? Furthermore, do men and women talk about their lives in the same way? Answers may vary depending on who answers the questions. However, it can be suggested that a reader chooses to read an autobiography because it interests them. This interest allows the reader to draw inspiration from the narrator's experience and to better understand that experience. When the reader becomes involved in the experience, he or she encounters what is known and felt by the narrator. The encounter can offer the reader an opportunity to explore a distant time and place. Reading the stories of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, we identify a period where the voice of the slave begins to emerge. Douglass and Jacobs emerge during the American Renaissance period. During this period, the society fought for the abolition of slavery and women's rights. The stories of Douglass and Jacobs awaken society to the atrocities of slavery confirmed by their personal experiences. The American Renaissance, distinguished as an intellectual and artistic period, now includes, among others, the brutal historical accounts of Douglass and Jacobs. The narrative presence of Douglass and Jacobs represents the voice slaves who desire freedom from slavery. In Trudy Mercer's "Representative Woman: Harriet Jacobs and the Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," she suggests that both narratives function as propaganda: Slave Narratives Before - Civil War America can illustrate the earliest and most dramatic uses of "personal as political" and the sharing of experiences... middle of paper ... autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. Melus. 22.4 (winter 1997): 91-108. April 16, 2002 http://relayweb.hwwilsonweb.com/cgi-bin/webclient.pl?sp.usernumber.p=513630&url=yes&sp.nextform=show.Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.” The Ed Paul Laughter Anthology of American Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Jacobs, Harriet Ann. Slave Girl." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. 1962-1985. McFreely, William S. Frederick Douglass. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1991. Mercer, Trudy. Harriet Ann Jacobs Author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave. “Representative Woman: Harriet Jacobs and Incidents in the Life of a Slave.” 2002.