Important Quotations Explained
1. READER, be assured this narrative is no fiction. I am aware that
some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are, nevertheless,
strictly true. I have not exaggerated the wrongs inflicted by Slavery; on
the contrary, my descriptions fall far short of the facts.
2. 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.
3. When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his
command in
every thing; that I was nothing but a slave,
whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm
felt half so strong.
4. Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it
is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the
laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will
of another.
5. Reader, my story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with
marriage. I and my children are now free! We are as free from the power of
slave holders as are the white people of the north; and though that,
according to my ideas, is not saying a great deal, it is a vast improvement
in my condition.
