Credibility through honesty

“When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own.” Jacobs is establishing credibility by telling the tales of he life as a female slave. The entire novel shows her honesty, and the credibility is created through that. Jacobs wants to show that male slaves had a bad life, but women other things they dealt with on top of the punishments males received. The novel shows the mental and sexual torture she is put through. In addition, she is physically beaten by her master like most slaves were. True stories of someone’s life are enough to make something credible. Truth equals credibility, and that is what this entire novel is about.