Fiction versus Reality

I found the letters between Harriet Jacobs and her editor fairly interesting, since it showed how active/ how much of a say Harriet had on her manuscript. One thing that I found most compelling was when Harriet talks about the manuscript itself, “I had never opened my life to Mrs. Willis concerning my children…it embarrassed me at first, but I told her the truth…saying that I wished it to be a history of my life entirely by itself, which would do more good, and it needed no romance: but she needed no romance; but if she wanted some facts for her book, that I would be most happy to give her some. (206)
The above passage was fairly moving to me, just because of how brilliantly raw “Incidents of a slave girl” really is. I think that the piece is strong on it’s own, without any sort of romanticism, and would have been shocked if Harriett actually changed or even toned down certain sections of the book, it would loose a grand part of it’s emotional impact on the reader. Although my initial reaction was one of pure disgust, especially in the chapters where Dr. Flint sexually harasses Harriet, then tells her that it is her fault for tempting him. As previously mentioned, it is in these scene, when the reader feels that they are completely helpless with what the scene is unraveling. If Harriett were to have censored herself, I feel that the overall piece wouldn’t have such an impact nor be much different from the other similar fictitious narratives. I agree with Harriett when she says that it is better that the narration remains truthful. Again, I believe that most books that are now labeled as nonfiction might carry more weight when talking about slavery, genocide, or other sort of human related tragedies, and have the potential to naturally shake up the reader a bit more. This reaction, is mostly organic, and the narrator and the reader may have a closer reaction if we do indeed know that this story that actually happened to someone. I wouldn’t say that if there was some less-graphic, more censored version of this would be pointless, but I feel that since this is a true narrative it remains unique and has the ability to stir the audience more than fiction. I am relived that she didn’t water it down to not shock people and decided to go into every uncomfortable detail. This book is hauntingly beautiful.