Developing Emancipatory Thinking through Narratives in Antebellum America

Abstract

Literature has served as one of the most convincing tools for developing emancipatory thinking among Americans, particularly the colored people in the antebellum period. The current research paper is an attempt to study and explore how emancipatory thinking was developed through literature which is, generally considered to be more fictional than factual. Through the close reading of the selected narratives written during the period, the researcher has attempted to unearth various aspects and relate them with the factual accounts of the time in order to investigate their closer relationship with each other. This required a theoretical framework that would enable us to juxtapose the literary and non-literary texts to have an actual picture of the situation; therefore, the non-literary journalistic writings during that period have been studied parallel to the literary narratives. The findings and discussion developed in this study also suggest that further studies may also be conducted in order to dispel the misconception ascribed to narratives of the antebellum period that narratives are imaginary scattered accounts of the authors which are much exaggerated than to have elements of realism.