Points of Exodus: Identity and Codified Memory in the Narrative of Sojourner Truth
The Narrative of Sojourner Truth shares certain distinguishable traits with other mid-nineteenth century slave writings. Imagery and tone, for instance, serve to indict non-abolitionists for inhumanity. Olive Gilbert, the individual who authored the manuscript, appeals to her audience on behalf of both their moral character and commitment to social progress. Yet, Truth's Narrative receives significantly less critical attention, presumably because it is not an autobiography. A work like Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl illustrates authorship's power to combat the reigns of slavery. Truth forfeits much of that ability to Gilbert. This is not to say that her narrative lacks meaning, for external authorship does not guarantee ineptitude. Instead, this essay asks how, within the parameters of oral transcription, Truth explores the avenues of language to forge her own identity. In quantifying, albeit not absolutely, this journey toward a sort of literary freedom, we must uncover and define the interrelational subtext Gilbert writes into Truth's dictation. This task proves similar to analyzing code, the encryption Truth leaves for her readers. The relationship that exists between the two women-subject/protagonist ßà narrator/focalizer-begs the question of how Truth manipulated the equation for her own benefit. If it is at all possible to trace these logical steps, then how can we organize them to declare a feature of the Narrative or the context from which it arose? The text under examination in this essay is exclusively Sojourner Truth's narrative. Research that supports this study such as Francis Smith Foster's Witnessing Slavery: The Development of Ante-bellum Slave Narratives and Nell Painter's Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol work to provide historical and theoretical foundation.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
English Literature
Research Advisor:
Alice Deck
Department of Research Advisor:
English
Year of Publication:
2003