Read the excerpts from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad
She knew that there were slaves who had betrayed other slaves when they tried to escape. Sometimes they told because they were afraid of the master, it was always hard on the ones who were left behind. Sometimes the house servants were the betrayers, they were closest to the masters, known to be tattletales, certain to be rewarded because of their talebearing.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The vessel was soon underway, but we made slow progress. The wind was against us. I should not have cared for this, if we had been out of sight of the town; but until there were miles of water between us and our enemies, we were filled with constant apprehension that the constables would come on board. Neither could I feel quite at ease with the captain and his men. I was an entire stranger to that class of people, and I had heard that sailors were rough, and sometimes cruel. We were so completely in their power, that if they were bad men, our situation would be dreadful. Now that the captain was paid for our passage, might he not be tempted to make more money by giving us up to those who claimed us as property?
How are Petry’s and Jacobs’s purposes similar in these passages?
They want to persuade readers to help people who are escaping slavery.
They want to inform readers that slavery can turn friends into enemies.
They want to describe how the risk of betrayal terrifies people escaping slavery.
They want to explain that people escaping slavery can rely only on themselves.
