in fact, if you know a little bit more about frederick douglass you find out he got help from heflts, from his fiance. there were a lot of people who were instrumental in the process. but there is a way in which men who are slaves sort of portray an experience that says they did it on their own. and women like harriet jacobs emphasizes these relationships. all right. so let me get a little more specific about this. there are three themes that i think are very important in understanding harriet jacobs' slave narrative. the first theme is pretty much what we talked about, which is that her experience is unique. because she writes as a slave woman and so in that sense she has certain kinds of experiences that are different from the kinds of experience that's men have. she has different experiences in slavery as a woman, in terms of the threats of sexual abuse that she faces. in terms of how to deal with being a mother and protecting her children. and she has unique circumstances in terms of how she's going to pursue her freedom. the second theme that i think is important comes up in term