PORTRAYAL OF WHITE WOMEN CHARACTERS IN HARRIET A. JACOBS’ INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL, WRITTEN BY HERSELF, HARRIET E. WILSON’S OUR NIG AND HARRIET BEECHER STOWE’S UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

An attempt is made in this paper to look at the portrayal of White women characters in Harriet A. Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861), Harriet E. Wilson’s Our Nig (1859) and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin(1852). This study takes for analysis three White women characters each from the two Black women’s works namely, Mrs. Flint, Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Emily Flint from Incidents; Mrs. Bellmont, Aunt Abby, and Mary from Our Nig; and four White women characters, namely, Mrs. Shelby, Marie, Miss Ophelia and Evangeline from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This paper argues that in spite of the fact that each of these three texts presents different pictures of the nature and character of White women, they together show a picture of the position of White women in 19th century American society.