Sufferings Of A Female Slave.
Slavery, Racial Discrimination, and Gender Inequality are the dominating themes of the influential book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Narrated through the fictional character of Linda Brent, this book is actually the autobiography of the author Harriet Ann Jacobs. According to the authors introduction of the book, her work aims to share information about the realities of slave life in the past and help the public understand the impact of the anti-slavery movements that changed the course of the world. The book recounts the hardships and trials endured by Linda throughout her tragic life. The main protagonist of this book was born and lived her whole life as a slave, but she never gave up on the hope of being free someday. Incidents on the Life of a Slave Girl is both a narrative of one girls personal hardships in life and a testament to all the injustices that women slaves had to endure in the past.
Linda Brent was a mulatto girl that was left an orphan at very young age. Lindas story begins with the narration of a her happy childhood that she experienced in the care of her family and her very first owner, the mistress of her mother who turned out to be a good woman that treated her nicely. The book recounts how she never felt as if she was a merchandise , until the day that that her mistress died and she was passed on to a new owner (Jacobs 12). Before their father died, he tried to buy the freedom of Brent and her brother, William. But he was unsuccessful and soon enough he also died, leaving them with no parent to care for them except for their grandmother, Aunt Martha. They were made into slaves and here begins the tragedy of Lindas life because her greatest sufferings were under the ownership her old mistress sister and her husband, Dr. Flint. In the chapters that followed, the story focused on explaining the kind of life that slaves experienced then. This autobiography successfully recounts the cruelty of slavery to female slaves like Linda Brent. Jacobs devoted her first part of the book establishing the setting and culture of slavery that Linda was exposed to. Most importantly, she also described the cruelty and brutal acts that she and her fellow slaves had to endure from their owners.
Lindas relationship with her owners was filled with despise and anger. She had been constantly pursued and harassed by Dr. Flint. My master met me at every turn, reminding m that I belonged to him, and sweating by heaven and earth that he would compel me to submit to him, Linda said in describing the harassment that she experienced (Jacobs 46). Even worse, Mrs. Flint went to a jealous rage and accused her of tempting her husband. This made her fear for her well-being much more.
But soon enough she also realized that even if Dr. Flint owned her legally, she should still to something to rebel against his authority if she wanted to be free. The story highlights Lindas feeling of revenge, anger, and rebellion towards her owner especially when Dr. Flint told her she was just made for his use, made to obey his command in everything and that she was nothing but a mere slave, whose will must and should surrender to his (29). This sparked the inspiration of defiance in Lindas heart that led her to make decisions that she deemed necessary though other women may find them hard to understand. One of this decision was to engage in a relationship with their white neighbor, Mr. Sands. In her narration she described how slavery had affected her the same way as other young female slaves and opened her ideals prematurely to the evil ways of the world (Jacobs 83). She was robbed of the chance to marry the man she loved, a black man who loved her and wanter to purchase her so she can be free. But Dr. Flint saw to it that such arrangement would not happen and so her despair and hopelessness led her to commit in an illicit love affair. She described her relationship with Mr. Sand as a triumph over my tyrant even in that small way because she knew Dr. Flint will get angry at the fact that she favored another when she continuously resisting her advancements. She hoped that she will be dismissed by her current owners when they found out about the affair. Linda felt that maybe her children have more chances of becoming free in the hands of Mr. Sands. The affair appealed to her both as a weapon for revenge and a form of escape.
Throughout her narration, Linda was insistent in explaining to her readers that she must be forgiven for her act and that it was really slavery that pushed her to it. In this part, readers get hint of why Jacobs opted to use a fictional character as a narrator rather than recount her experiences in an autobiography format. Jacobs feels pained in reliving her past and was indeed ashamed of the things she was able to commit because of hopelessness. She emphasized rather clearly that she would not have done those things that she was shameful of if she had another choice. She said that a slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standards as others because female slaves experience greater hardships than anyone else during her time (Jacobs 86).
Linda narrates in her book the extreme experience that female slaves had to suffer in the past. She reiterates many times that slavery is terrible for men but it is far more terrible for women (Jacobs 119). Male slaves also experience whippings and other physical abuses, but Jacobs reiterates that the abuse on women exceed physical pain because female slaves are also abused mentally and sexually by their owners. Cases of white men subjecting their slaves to sexual abuses are very common during Lindas time, the same or probably even graver experiences she had to go through in the hands of Dr. Flint that led to her affair with Mr. Sands ad produced two children, Benjamin and Ellen. She thought the affair was the ticket to her and her childrens freedom but instead of setting her free, Dr. Flint gave her the choice of either becoming his mistress or to leave and work in a plantation. She preferred to suffer the physical hardships of working in the plantation rather than suffer the harassment of being Dr. Flints mistress.
Linda continued hoping that her children would receive the freedom she wants for them. With the intention of attaining freedom, she made Dr. Flint believe she escaped and went to the North when in fact she only hid. This had been both a bold and desperate act for Linda and it worked fairly well as her brother William and her two children were soon sold by Dr. Flint to a slave trader that was secretly representing Mr. Sands. After being purchased, they were made to live with Aunt Martha. Yet despite selling the children and William, Dr. Flint did not stop looking for Linda. He even told her grandmother not to expect to see her free for he intends to keep her his slave for as long as he lives and continue to be the slave of his children when he dies (Jacobs 166). This threat forced Linda to continue hiding in the attic of Aunt Martha and settled to seeing her children from afar even if she cannot communicate with the.
For many years, Linda endured the pain of hiding and never having the chance to live peacefully with her children. She longed to speak to them but she settled on this situation and endured the physical pain as long as she remains to see and her them (Jacobs 174). The book then refocused again on how the sufferings of female slaves had led to psychological and emotional torment that is hard to escape and heal. The great pain of her being away from her children equate all the hardships of her life. The emotional agony even surpassed the physical pain for she endured being cramped in the attic for several years rather than never seeing her children. She watched them grow from afar even if she feared that they may not have the natural affection that children feel to parent (Jacobs 210). This was the emotional pain she had to endure because of slavery.
It was not until Mr. Sands, who was already a Congressman at that time, decides that Ellen was to be sent to work at the home of Mr. Sands cousin in Brooklyn that Linda began to rethink her plans for her children. The plan to send Ellen away made Linda feel uneasy so she asked her grandmother to remind Mr. Sands of his promise to emancipate her children. Mr. Sands reiterated that he did not intend to keep them slaves and it would probably even be better for them to live in the North because Dr. Flint is still threatening to reclaim them. Linda remains powerless because she was still a slave. And so one day, she also decided to escape to the North. Soon she found herself being smuggled to Philadelphia. In her, readers can sense the change of tone in Lindas narration and she was becoming distrustful of other people, especially the ship captain who was being friendly to her, because she fears that one might betray them or sell them again. But as she defends her self in her narration, Linda said that if one had ever been a slave, he would have known how difficult it was to trust a white man (Jacobs 240). Lindas way of thinking had been immensely affected by her grave experiences in the past.
One of the sad realizations that Linda gained after escaping slavery was that she was safe from the hunters but alone in the world as her relationships with her loved ones was cruelly sundered by the demon Slavery (Jacobs 241). These words of Linda explicitly describes the harsh world that slavery had built and how her psychological behavior had been affected by it. But these challenges also made her determined to accomplish the changes that she wants her children to experience.
Lindas arrival in the north also emphasized her first and important experience with racial discrimination when she learned that it is not allowed for colored people to go in the first-class cars of the trains (Jacobs 247). This made her re-think of the possible kind of life that was awaiting her in the north. Her first greatest anxiety was finding a job since she had no recommendation or certificate that was usually needed in looking for employment. Eventually, Linda managed to find employment in the Bruce Family where she worked as a nurse. She had began living a good life in the employment of Mrs. Bruce and she was also soon reunited with her daughter Ellen. Life was beginning to be okay for her with the news that her son was also reunited with her brother in California and that Dr. Flint had also already died. She began reflecting how sweet and bitter were mixed in the cup of her life and she was thankful that the bitterness was beginning to decrease (Jacobs 257). Even when her original employer died and Mr. Bruce decided to remarry, she remained as the nurse of their family.
But her sufferings resurfaced when Dr. Flints daughter Emily began reclaiming ownership of her. Mrs. Flint openly declared that her daughter could not afford to lose so valuable a slave as Linda was and so her former owners family were insistent in recapturing her again (Jacobs 295). The governments passing of the Fugitive Slave Law also added trials for Linda for she remains to be a slave on the run. Linda remained devastated and angry with the whole system of slavery that continuously punished and haunted her. Despite being in the north territories already, the reality of being a female slave on the run remain to stop her from becoming free.
Emily Flint-Dodges arrival in New York forced Linda to go hiding again. These events prove how the sufferings of the slaves then continuously haunted them. Linda tried escaping them while her employer, the new Mrs. Bruce who was really kind to her, tried to purchase her wholly in order to be able to give her a better life. Mrs. Bruce succeeded, and even if Linda did not want to be bought and sold again, she appreciated the effort of her kind employer. She praised her fervently in the narrative and emphasized on the respect she feels towards her Mrs. Bruce.
The most important turning point of Lindas life was marked by her words in the last pages of the book where she said 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 (Jacobs 302). This she remarked after being placed in the employment of Mrs. Bruce. She was obtained still by purchase, but her tone of narration hinted that life was bound to improve already. Though it was not yet the complete freedom that she was aiming for her children, she knew that this change in her life and the employment to Mrs. Bruce is still a blessing she could be thankful for. For Linda, serving Mrs. Bruce was a privilege to her. It was love, duty, and gratitude that binded her to her new owner and not the dictate of servitude and slavery (Jacobs 303).
All of Lindas suffering in th book roots from the very reason that she was a female slave. The hardships of slavery tormented her not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. She was forced to make decisions she did not really want, but was given no choice. Everything in her life is affected by the inhumane practice of slavery. It also took her a very long time before she could escape to the North. The government also did little in protecting her interest. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl documents truthfully and substantially the essential reality of slavery in the past. Yet, it also explores the important themes of motherhood and social status. Linda represents a mother who is ready to do anything and everything for her children. At the same time, she was also a crusader of equality and freedom as she bravely documents her lifes sufferings. Slavery and discrimination made her, and other female slaves suffer immensely. But in the end Linda also achieved a better life as her resistance and determination paid off for her and her children.
Linda Brent was a mulatto girl that was left an orphan at very young age. Lindas story begins with the narration of a her happy childhood that she experienced in the care of her family and her very first owner, the mistress of her mother who turned out to be a good woman that treated her nicely. The book recounts how she never felt as if she was a merchandise , until the day that that her mistress died and she was passed on to a new owner (Jacobs 12). Before their father died, he tried to buy the freedom of Brent and her brother, William. But he was unsuccessful and soon enough he also died, leaving them with no parent to care for them except for their grandmother, Aunt Martha. They were made into slaves and here begins the tragedy of Lindas life because her greatest sufferings were under the ownership her old mistress sister and her husband, Dr. Flint. In the chapters that followed, the story focused on explaining the kind of life that slaves experienced then. This autobiography successfully recounts the cruelty of slavery to female slaves like Linda Brent. Jacobs devoted her first part of the book establishing the setting and culture of slavery that Linda was exposed to. Most importantly, she also described the cruelty and brutal acts that she and her fellow slaves had to endure from their owners.
Lindas relationship with her owners was filled with despise and anger. She had been constantly pursued and harassed by Dr. Flint. My master met me at every turn, reminding m that I belonged to him, and sweating by heaven and earth that he would compel me to submit to him, Linda said in describing the harassment that she experienced (Jacobs 46). Even worse, Mrs. Flint went to a jealous rage and accused her of tempting her husband. This made her fear for her well-being much more.
But soon enough she also realized that even if Dr. Flint owned her legally, she should still to something to rebel against his authority if she wanted to be free. The story highlights Lindas feeling of revenge, anger, and rebellion towards her owner especially when Dr. Flint told her she was just made for his use, made to obey his command in everything and that she was nothing but a mere slave, whose will must and should surrender to his (29). This sparked the inspiration of defiance in Lindas heart that led her to make decisions that she deemed necessary though other women may find them hard to understand. One of this decision was to engage in a relationship with their white neighbor, Mr. Sands. In her narration she described how slavery had affected her the same way as other young female slaves and opened her ideals prematurely to the evil ways of the world (Jacobs 83). She was robbed of the chance to marry the man she loved, a black man who loved her and wanter to purchase her so she can be free. But Dr. Flint saw to it that such arrangement would not happen and so her despair and hopelessness led her to commit in an illicit love affair. She described her relationship with Mr. Sand as a triumph over my tyrant even in that small way because she knew Dr. Flint will get angry at the fact that she favored another when she continuously resisting her advancements. She hoped that she will be dismissed by her current owners when they found out about the affair. Linda felt that maybe her children have more chances of becoming free in the hands of Mr. Sands. The affair appealed to her both as a weapon for revenge and a form of escape.
Throughout her narration, Linda was insistent in explaining to her readers that she must be forgiven for her act and that it was really slavery that pushed her to it. In this part, readers get hint of why Jacobs opted to use a fictional character as a narrator rather than recount her experiences in an autobiography format. Jacobs feels pained in reliving her past and was indeed ashamed of the things she was able to commit because of hopelessness. She emphasized rather clearly that she would not have done those things that she was shameful of if she had another choice. She said that a slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standards as others because female slaves experience greater hardships than anyone else during her time (Jacobs 86).
Linda narrates in her book the extreme experience that female slaves had to suffer in the past. She reiterates many times that slavery is terrible for men but it is far more terrible for women (Jacobs 119). Male slaves also experience whippings and other physical abuses, but Jacobs reiterates that the abuse on women exceed physical pain because female slaves are also abused mentally and sexually by their owners. Cases of white men subjecting their slaves to sexual abuses are very common during Lindas time, the same or probably even graver experiences she had to go through in the hands of Dr. Flint that led to her affair with Mr. Sands ad produced two children, Benjamin and Ellen. She thought the affair was the ticket to her and her childrens freedom but instead of setting her free, Dr. Flint gave her the choice of either becoming his mistress or to leave and work in a plantation. She preferred to suffer the physical hardships of working in the plantation rather than suffer the harassment of being Dr. Flints mistress.
Linda continued hoping that her children would receive the freedom she wants for them. With the intention of attaining freedom, she made Dr. Flint believe she escaped and went to the North when in fact she only hid. This had been both a bold and desperate act for Linda and it worked fairly well as her brother William and her two children were soon sold by Dr. Flint to a slave trader that was secretly representing Mr. Sands. After being purchased, they were made to live with Aunt Martha. Yet despite selling the children and William, Dr. Flint did not stop looking for Linda. He even told her grandmother not to expect to see her free for he intends to keep her his slave for as long as he lives and continue to be the slave of his children when he dies (Jacobs 166). This threat forced Linda to continue hiding in the attic of Aunt Martha and settled to seeing her children from afar even if she cannot communicate with the.
For many years, Linda endured the pain of hiding and never having the chance to live peacefully with her children. She longed to speak to them but she settled on this situation and endured the physical pain as long as she remains to see and her them (Jacobs 174). The book then refocused again on how the sufferings of female slaves had led to psychological and emotional torment that is hard to escape and heal. The great pain of her being away from her children equate all the hardships of her life. The emotional agony even surpassed the physical pain for she endured being cramped in the attic for several years rather than never seeing her children. She watched them grow from afar even if she feared that they may not have the natural affection that children feel to parent (Jacobs 210). This was the emotional pain she had to endure because of slavery.
It was not until Mr. Sands, who was already a Congressman at that time, decides that Ellen was to be sent to work at the home of Mr. Sands cousin in Brooklyn that Linda began to rethink her plans for her children. The plan to send Ellen away made Linda feel uneasy so she asked her grandmother to remind Mr. Sands of his promise to emancipate her children. Mr. Sands reiterated that he did not intend to keep them slaves and it would probably even be better for them to live in the North because Dr. Flint is still threatening to reclaim them. Linda remains powerless because she was still a slave. And so one day, she also decided to escape to the North. Soon she found herself being smuggled to Philadelphia. In her, readers can sense the change of tone in Lindas narration and she was becoming distrustful of other people, especially the ship captain who was being friendly to her, because she fears that one might betray them or sell them again. But as she defends her self in her narration, Linda said that if one had ever been a slave, he would have known how difficult it was to trust a white man (Jacobs 240). Lindas way of thinking had been immensely affected by her grave experiences in the past.
One of the sad realizations that Linda gained after escaping slavery was that she was safe from the hunters but alone in the world as her relationships with her loved ones was cruelly sundered by the demon Slavery (Jacobs 241). These words of Linda explicitly describes the harsh world that slavery had built and how her psychological behavior had been affected by it. But these challenges also made her determined to accomplish the changes that she wants her children to experience.
Lindas arrival in the north also emphasized her first and important experience with racial discrimination when she learned that it is not allowed for colored people to go in the first-class cars of the trains (Jacobs 247). This made her re-think of the possible kind of life that was awaiting her in the north. Her first greatest anxiety was finding a job since she had no recommendation or certificate that was usually needed in looking for employment. Eventually, Linda managed to find employment in the Bruce Family where she worked as a nurse. She had began living a good life in the employment of Mrs. Bruce and she was also soon reunited with her daughter Ellen. Life was beginning to be okay for her with the news that her son was also reunited with her brother in California and that Dr. Flint had also already died. She began reflecting how sweet and bitter were mixed in the cup of her life and she was thankful that the bitterness was beginning to decrease (Jacobs 257). Even when her original employer died and Mr. Bruce decided to remarry, she remained as the nurse of their family.
But her sufferings resurfaced when Dr. Flints daughter Emily began reclaiming ownership of her. Mrs. Flint openly declared that her daughter could not afford to lose so valuable a slave as Linda was and so her former owners family were insistent in recapturing her again (Jacobs 295). The governments passing of the Fugitive Slave Law also added trials for Linda for she remains to be a slave on the run. Linda remained devastated and angry with the whole system of slavery that continuously punished and haunted her. Despite being in the north territories already, the reality of being a female slave on the run remain to stop her from becoming free.
Emily Flint-Dodges arrival in New York forced Linda to go hiding again. These events prove how the sufferings of the slaves then continuously haunted them. Linda tried escaping them while her employer, the new Mrs. Bruce who was really kind to her, tried to purchase her wholly in order to be able to give her a better life. Mrs. Bruce succeeded, and even if Linda did not want to be bought and sold again, she appreciated the effort of her kind employer. She praised her fervently in the narrative and emphasized on the respect she feels towards her Mrs. Bruce.
The most important turning point of Lindas life was marked by her words in the last pages of the book where she said 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 (Jacobs 302). This she remarked after being placed in the employment of Mrs. Bruce. She was obtained still by purchase, but her tone of narration hinted that life was bound to improve already. Though it was not yet the complete freedom that she was aiming for her children, she knew that this change in her life and the employment to Mrs. Bruce is still a blessing she could be thankful for. For Linda, serving Mrs. Bruce was a privilege to her. It was love, duty, and gratitude that binded her to her new owner and not the dictate of servitude and slavery (Jacobs 303).
All of Lindas suffering in th book roots from the very reason that she was a female slave. The hardships of slavery tormented her not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. She was forced to make decisions she did not really want, but was given no choice. Everything in her life is affected by the inhumane practice of slavery. It also took her a very long time before she could escape to the North. The government also did little in protecting her interest. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl documents truthfully and substantially the essential reality of slavery in the past. Yet, it also explores the important themes of motherhood and social status. Linda represents a mother who is ready to do anything and everything for her children. At the same time, she was also a crusader of equality and freedom as she bravely documents her lifes sufferings. Slavery and discrimination made her, and other female slaves suffer immensely. But in the end Linda also achieved a better life as her resistance and determination paid off for her and her children.
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