In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs, the Church plays an important role in the story, especially when it comes to slavery. Jacobs, who writes under the name Linda Brent, explains how some people in the Church, who are supposed to be good and kind, turn a blind eye to the awful things happening to slaves. Instead of helping, they often support the slavery system, which is very unfair.
One literary device that Harriet Jacobs uses in this chapter is irony. Irony means when something happens that is the opposite of what you expect. For example, the Church is supposed to be a place of love and help, yet some of its members ignore the pain of slaves. This makes the reader feel confused and upset because we expect the Church to stand up for what is right.
This use of irony helps us understand the characters better. We see Linda as a brave and strong woman who is fighting for her freedom and her children's freedom, and it makes us feel sad for her when others don’t help. It also teaches us an important lesson about how people sometimes say one thing but do another.
Overall, this irony adds to the theme of hypocrisy in society. It shows us that even places that are meant to be good can sometimes be part of the problem when they do not stand up against injustice. Jacobs uses this literary device to make us think and feel deeply about the struggles of enslaved people, helping us to understand how wrong slavery is.