Read the excerpt from "Ain't I a Woman?" I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman? What is the primary purpose of the phrases “borne thirteen children” and “cried out with my mother’s grief”?