Tales of a Slave Girl was written by Harriet Jacobs, who goes by Linda Brent in the narrative. Based true, factual events. Harriet Jacobs decided to make personal struggles, enslavement, sexual abuse, and exploitation public to let African Americans especially african american women that she understands and has compassion for her sisters. “Reader it is not to awaken sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I suffered. I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in your hearts for my sisters who are still in bondage (enslavement). This narrative begins with Linda Brent remembering the strange “blessings” that happened in her early childhood years. Growing up during her early years, Linda did not realize she was a slave, because her father was a very skilled carpenter. In fact his skills were so immaculate that he was granted the many privileges that a free man would have. Linda also has a mother, an uncle, a grandmother, and a brother. At the age of six Linda’s life changes when her mother passes away. She …show more content…
This is where Dr. Flint comes in, he is the neighborhood physician who is married to the sister of Linda’s mistress. Since Linda is now property of the young daughter, that now makes Dr. Flint her slavemaster until Linda’s mistress is old enough to have a say. Linda and her brother move in with their new family and they weren’t met with a warm welcoming. The family gave them dirty stares, harsh words, and even harsher treatment. Unfortunately, Linda’s time in the house only gets worse. By the age of fifteen Linda was being sexually harassed by Dr. Flint; who is forty years her senior. Fueled by jealous rage, Mrs. Flint sees Linda as the villain. Instead of Mrs. Flint protecting her, she leaves Linda to fend for herself. Eventually, Mr. Flint realizes that offering better treatment, and even threats of violence will not convince Linda into succumbing to his
Jacobs uses the pseudonym Linda Brent to narrate her first-person account. Born into slavery, Linda spends her early years in a happy home with her mother and father, who are relatively well-off slaves. When her mother dies, six-year-old Linda is sent to live with her mother's mistress, who treats her well and teaches her to read. After a few years, this mistress dies and bequeaths Linda to a relative. Her new masters are cruel and neglectful, and Dr. Flint, the father, soon begins pressuring Linda to have a sexual relationship with him. Linda struggles against Flint's overtures for several years. He pressures and threatens her, and she defies and outwits him. Knowing that Flint will eventually get his way, Linda consents to a love affair with a white neighbor, Mr. Sands, saying that she is ashamed of this illicit relationship but finds it preferable to being raped by the loathsome Dr. Flint. With Mr. Sands, she has two children, Benny and Ellen. Linda argues that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free woman. She also has practical reasons for agreeing to the affair: she hopes that when Flint finds out about it, he will sell her to Sands in disgust. Instead, the vengeful Flint sends Linda to his plantation to be broken in as a field hand.
Linda Brent, Ms. Jacobs' pseudonym while writing "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," became so entrenched in hatred of slaveholders and slavery that she lost sight of the possible good actions of slaveholders. When she "resolved never to be conquered" (p.17), she could no longer see any positive motivations or overtures made by slaveholders. Specifically, she could not see the good side of Mr. Flint, the father of her mistress. He showed his care for her in many ways, most notably in that he never allowed anyone to physically hurt her, he built a house for her, and he offered to take care of her and her bastard child even though it was not his.
Harriet Jacobs author of “Incidents of a Slave Girl” depicted the life of a women enslaved to white planation owners between the years 1819-1842. Harriet Jacobs escaped for enslavement and went on to become a pivotal figure for the African American culture with tales of cruelty from her owners and her need for freedom. Jacobs penned her story to persuade white people in the North to fight against the maltreatment of African Americans in the South. Jacobs highlighted for abolitionist and non-abolitionist alike the abuse slaves felt for many years and the obstacles they went through to secure their freedom. Harriet Jacobs asserted, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women.” In contrast to Jacobs, slavery for women did not exceed or fall below that of men. The circumstances in which the different genders were treated did show some variations, however, the effects of slavery affected both men and women equally. Slave men and women all had one common goal and that was to enjoy the freedoms and rights as human beings amongst the Caucasian counterparts. Erik Foner, author of Give me Liberty! An American History, stated, “Black sought to make white Americans understand slavery as a concrete reality—the denial of all the essential elements of freedom—not merely as a metaphor for the loss of political self-determination.” African American fought collectively with both men and women against oppression from Caucasians.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl. 2nd Edition. Edited by Pine T. Joslyn. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, INC., 2001.
Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself. Ed. Jennifer Fleischner. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. Print.
In her essay, “Loopholes of Resistance,” Michelle Burnham argues that “Aunt Marthy’s garret does not offer a retreat from the oppressive conditions of slavery – as, one might argue, the communal life in Aunt Marthy’s house does – so much as it enacts a repetition of them…[Thus] Harriet Jacobs escapes reigning discourses in structures only in the very process of affirming them” (289). In order to support this, one must first agree that Aunt Marthy’s house provides a retreat from slavery. I do not. Burnham seems to view the life inside Aunt Marthy’s house as one outside of and apart from slavery where family structure can exist, the mind can find some rest, comfort can be given, and a sense of peace and humanity can be achieved. In contrast, Burnham views the garret as a physical embodiment of the horrors of slavery, a place where family can only dream about being together, the mind is subjected to psychological warfare, comfort is non-existent, and only the fear and apprehension of inhumanity can be found. It is true that Aunt Marthy’s house paints and entirely different, much less severe, picture of slavery than that of the garret, but still, it is a picture of slavery differing only in that it temporarily masks the harsh realities of slavery whereas the garret openly portrays them. The garret’s close proximity to the house is symbolic of the ever-lurking presence of slavery and its power to break down and destroy families and lives until there is nothing left. Throughout her novel, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents these and several other structures that suggest a possible retreat from slavery, may appear from the outside to provide such a retreat, but ideally never can. Among these structures are religion, literacy, family, self, and freedom.
Harriet Jacobs takes a great risk writing her trials as a house servant in the south and a fugitive in the north. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl gives a true account of the brutality slavery held for women. A perspective that was relatively secretive during Jacobs’ time. Jacobs’ narrative focuses on subjugation due to race but it also portrays many women an strong and often open roles. Women in these roles were minimal and often suffered for their outspoken roles.
Jeannette, her mom, dad, brother Brian, and sister Lori are faced with many problems everyday. One example that shows the family faces hardships is, “We called the kitchen the loose-juice room, because on the rare occasion that we had paid the electricity bill and had power, we’d get a wicked electric shock if we touched any damp or
She indirectly causes the dysfunction in the family because Biff and Happy see their father as someone that should be successful, but he only has dreams that he’ll never reach, and Linda just helps him along. Miller is trying to tell us that we should not enable people to be someone they’re not, and that we should tell them like it is. If we don’t, then dysfunction will happen. So, if you ever see someone enabling someone else, try to stop it. They might be trying to be nice but they’re just hurting the person they’re enabling, because everyone should be living in
This means that Linda wants to escape from slavery, but because of Aunt Martha putting guilt trips on Linda, this hurts there relationship. Linda I believe resents her grandmother for this, but Aunt Martha believes that she is doing the right thing for her. Aunt Martha represents the role of mother and father figure by providing reinforcement to Linda. Because of Aunt Martha is a free woman she can provide many things to her granddaughter in times in need. Because of Linda and Aunt Martha complex relationship, Linda says, “Although my grandmother was all in all to me, I feared her as well loved her. I had been accustomed to look up at her with a respect bordering upon awe” (Jacobs 28-29). The fear that Linda has with Aunt Martha gives her trouble telling her about Dr. Flint advances which leads to a major conflict. “As a young slave girl of fifteen years, Linda if forced to choose between the virtues instilled by her much respected Grandmother and her need to assert herself sexually to avoid father enslavement”
Two slave narratives that are noticed today are “ The Narrative Of Frederick Douglass” written by Douglass himself, and “ The Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl” written by Harriet Jacobs. Both of these works contain the authors own personal accounts of slavery and how they were successfully able to escape. Although their stories end with both Douglass and Jacobs being freed, they share a similar narrative of the horrifying experience of a slave.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a story that describes the trials and events that occurred in a slave’s life throughout her journey to freedom. It was written by a former slave, known as Harriet Ann Jacobs and published in the year of 1861. Although Jacobs used fictional characters in her narrative, the events that were mentioned throughout it are actually true. In other words, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiography of the author’s life. Instead of telling her story as herself, she adopted the first person narrator approach and created the character “Linda Brent”. While reading this narrative, several songs approached my thought. Common’s Glory, Ludachris’s Runaway Love, and Shame by the R&B singer Tyrese, are three
In “The Trial of Girlhood” and “A Perilous Passage In the Slave Girl’s Life” Jacobs’s narrative emphasizes the problems that are faced by female slaves. She shares the sexual abuses that are commonly practiced by slave master against young female slaves. She does this through revealing the unique humiliation and the brutalities that were inflicted upon young slave girls. In this narrative we come to understand the psychological damage caused by sexual harassment. We also realize how this sexual harassment done by the slaveholders went against morality and “violated the most sacred commandment of nature,”(Harriet 289)as well as fundamental religious beliefs.
Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, is a novel about freedom and the feelings that come either when you have it, or when you have never even had the chance to obtain it. The first time, the reader can see that freedom is simply a chance to be better is when Linda Brent walked on
Lori, the wife, created a household filled with jealousy. She was unable to control her anger and began to abuse her husband Ed. The situation is a perfect example of the cycle of violence. Their problems start because of Lori's jealousy towards those, besides her, who receive Ed's attention. This jealous develops into anger that begin to cause fights between Lori and Ed. Lori hits Ed for the first after a party she has for his birthday. She apologizes but Ed tells her it's not her fault and just dismisses it. Unfortunately situations like that continued to occur. Lori would hit Ed and then promise to change. The cycle repeated for the remainder of the time that Ed stayed with Lori.