Incidents of the Life of a Slave Girl - 2134 Words

In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs writes, Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women (64). Jacobs work presents the evils of slavery as being worse in a womans case due to the tenets of gender identity. Jacobs elucidates the disparity between societal dictates of what the proper roles were for Nineteenth century women and the manner that slavery prevented a woman from fulfilling these roles. The book illustrates the double standard of for white women versus black women. Harriet Jacobs serves as an example of the female slaves desire to maintain the prescribed virtues but how her circumstances often prevented her from practicing. Expectations of the women of the era, as stated in†¦show more content†¦But when I reflected that I was a slave, and that the laws gave no sanction to the marriage of such... (33) Jacobs is denied marriage to her lover by her owner, Never let me hear that fellows name mentioned again. If I ever know of your speaking to him, I will cowhide you both... Ill teach you a lesson about marriage free niggers! (35-36). However, Jacobs will not allow it to totally destroy her sense of self as a woman. While she has suffered abuse and harassment and the hands of Dr. Flint, Jacobs remained determined that Flint would not succeed at last in trampling his victim under his feet,(46). As she is not permitted purity, Jacobs decided to take a white lover. If she were to be forced to give up her purity it would be at least ...to a man who is not married... It seems less degrading to give ones self, that to submit to compulsion (47). The quotes show Jacobs recognition of the sanctity of marriage has well certain personal standards. Jacobs possesses a sense of self, she feels that she deserves to choose her own lover. Regarding her lover she wrote, There is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you except that which he gains by kindness... The wrong does not seem so great with an unmarried man, as with one who has a wife to be made unhappy (47). Jacobs used her own sexuality as a defense, since keeping her physical purity, a right to other women, had been denied to her. By choosing an unattached man, JacobsShow MoreRelatedIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl1112 Words   |  4 Pages In the non-fiction book â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,† by Harriet A. Jacobs and published in Boston in 1861. The author Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813, in a town called Edenton, North Carolina. Jacob uses the pseudonym Linda Brent to narrate her first person account. The book opens with Jacobs stating her reasons for writing a biography of her life story. Her story is agonizing and she had rather have kept it confidential, although she felt that by making it public thatRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl1455 Words   |  6 PagesIn â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,† Harriet Jacobs gives a detailed account of the life story of â€Å"Linda Brent† which is the pseudo name for herself, outlining the events which primarily focuses on her escape from her slave master, â€Å"Dr. Flint.† After learning that Dr. Flint has already fathered 11 children from his slaves, it is hard to imagine why he is never able to successful pursue Linda. After all, just based on the sheer number of his incidents of sexual relations with his slaves, itRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl1556 Words   |  6 Pages Throughout Harriet Jacobs biography of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she brings up three arguments to support her views on anti-slavery: the moral conflict between slavery and Christianity, pain and suffering (physical and emotional) of being in slavery, and color prejudice. Throughout Jacobs biography, she also uses key themes such as power struggles and feministic views to portray slavery to persuade to the women in the north that slavery is indeed corrupt. Jacobs aims her anti-slaveryRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl864 Words   |  4 PagesIncidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl Linda Brent CHAPTER I The conditions of this master-slave relationship are that the slave (Linda) is there to do work for her mistress, or master, which is now her sister s daughter. Linda is supposed to take care her new owners five year old daughter, help plant things, take care of any animals and anything else she is told. As a slave, she should also do everything else she is told by her master. After a brief period of suspense, the will of my mistressRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl1927 Words   |  8 PagesIncidents in the life of a slave girl - essay During the antebellum South, many Africans, who were forced migrants brought to America, were there to work for white-owners of tobacco and cotton plantations, manual labor as America expanded west, and as supplemental support of their owner’s families. Harriet Jacobs’s slave narrative supports the definition of slavery (in the South), discrimination (in the North), sexual gender as being influential to a slave’s role, the significant role of family supportRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl748 Words   |  3 PagesIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl The story I will be discussing is entitled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs. This book is relative to more than a few of previous topics that have been discussed in class during lectures. The book touches on the struggles that enslaved women faced on a day to day basis. It follows the life on author Harriet Ann Jacobs and does an excellent job demonstrating how women in bondage unlike their free white counterparts, had no male figureRead MoreIncidents Of Life Of A Slave Girl771 Words   |  4 PagesIncidents in life of a slave girl. Autobiographical narrative that has been written by african-american female from North Carolina by the name Harriet A Jacob, who depicts horrors of normal life of a slave, beginning her story with description of her childhood memories of her family and people who were their owners. Harriet adopts a pseudonym of Linda Brent, and assigns different from reality names to anyone important in her narrative, in order to be able to share the story of her life and probablyRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl1968 Words   |  8 PagesIn the book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author Harriet Jacobs (also the main character in book), paints a very powerful, and emotion picture of what the institution of Slavery was like for the slave and master in America, and the toll that it took on the human soul. Before reading this book, I was given a list of questions to ponder on while reading. These questions ranged from, compare and contrast survival techniques used by two char acters in the book, to was this work difficultRead MoreIncidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Analysis1335 Words   |  6 PagesWoman’s Worth in the Hard Times of Slavery Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, a slave narrative written by Harriet Ann Jacobs is highly commended for the portrayal of women during the excruciating times of slavery. Disregarding that the slave narrative was initially written for the audience of Caucasian women, â€Å"†¦, as white women constituted Jacobs’s primary audience at the time she wrote her narrative† (Larson,742) the struggles of being a female slave were emphasized throughout the narrative.Read More Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Essay1671 Words   |  7 Pagesbook, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. L. Maria Child, a prominent white abolitionist, agreed to edit Jacobs book, although she apparently did little to alter the text except to rearrange some sections, suggest the removal of one chapter, and add material to another. In a letter to a friend, Child wrote, I abridged, and struck out superfluous words sometimes; but I dont think I altered fifty words in the whole volume. The subject matter of the book -- sexual abuse of slave women