The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs strongly speaks to its readers by describing the brutalities of slavery and the way slave owners can destroy peaceful lives. After reading and rereading the story have noticed certain things regarding how Jacobs tries to educate her readers and her intended audience which is the women of the North. As if we do not know enough about how terrible slavery is, this story gives detailed examples of the lives of slaves and provokes an incredible amount of emotions. She uses several tactics in her writing to reach her desired audience and does so very well.

Slavery was common in the eighteenth century. Slaves were seen as property, as they were taken from their native land and forced into long hours of labor. The experience was traumatic for both black men and black women. They were physically and mentally abused by slave owners, dehumanized by the system, and ultimately denied their fundamental rights to a favorable American life. Although African men and women were both subjected to the same enslavement, men and women had different experiences in slavery based on their gender. A male perspective can be seen in, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass. A female perspective is shared in Harriet Jacobs’ narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Upon reading both of the viewpoints provided, along with outside research, one can infer that women had it worse.

In these two tales of brutal bondage, Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the modern reader can decipher two vastly different experiences from circumstances that were not altogether that dissimilar. Both narratives tell the story of a slave gaining his or her freedom from cruel masters, yes, but that is where the most prominent similarities end. Not only are they factually different, these stories are entirely distinct in their themes.

Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: A Harrowing Escape from Abuse

Harriet Jacobs wanted to tell her story so that readers would know how slave girls were treated. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be so public while writing her novel, but she decided that since she wanted others to learn and know about what happens in a slaves shoes, she decided to be completely open and write using her name and experiences. Jacobs’s uses emotion and diction throughout the entire essay to emphasize the struggles that her and many other slave women and men go through.

Incidents in the life of a slave girl, is the authors autobiography of slavery. This book by Harriett Jacobs tells her story through her eyes from the suffering of enslavement by a territorial master, failed attempts to escape, and preservation of her family. These events took place between 1813-1897 in North Carolina, where slaves were property and slave owners did what they wanted; when they wanted with their property. She explains her cruel treatment as an African American slave and how she used her sexuality to her advantage against her master. In reviewing this book, Jacobs failed to go into great detail about her intimate slave-master relationship. She pacified her enslavement, by presenting little to no information about the slaves’ hardships in depth. She was not as descriptive nor did the book highlight the main parts of slavery.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a story about a young girls experience during slavery in the south. She talks about the many struggles for self-definition and self-respect, and the disturbing details of a risky escape. Harriett Jacobs’s story highlights the special problems faced by female slaves, mainly sexual abuse and the anguish of slave mothers who are separated from their children.

In the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is a biography of Harriet Jacobs’s life as a slave. Jacobs wrote a book about her experiences of being a slave. She used different names in the book, just for privacy. Harriet was known as Linda in the book.

One writer that has discussed some of the problems, challenges, and injustices black females have faced in America is Harriet Jacobs. In her writing From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she narrates as Linda Brown, the problems that black females experienced during slavery. She talks about how she was sexually harassed and abused by her slave master and how she struggled to escape from him in order to achieve freedom; for her and for her child. Jacobs addressed this memoir to white women from the North, in order to shed light into the problems of sexual abuse that many female slaves faced on plantations. This experiences made her realize that even though slavery was “terrible for men”, it was “far more terrible for women”, due to the fact that many female slaves were constantly harassed and abused by their masters and could not do anything about it. Jacobs states, “I was compelled to live under the same roof with him-- where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature. He told me I was his property; that I must subject to his will in all things” (231). This demonstrates that black female slaves were put in a situation that, because of slavery, could not escape. Jacobs, like many female slaves, was trapped in a house where she was constantly seeing her abuser and was compelled to stay there. Not only that, but, she had no protection as a female since society is ruled by white men, as well as the fact that she was constantly

Throughout history, humans have enslaved humans. If slavery never existed, neither would temples or civilization or pyramids. Although they have always provided what is needed, owners would still abuse and mistreat their slaves. However, some slaves have written books about their life in slavery and the cruelties they endured. These stories are called slave narratives, pieces of literature that are written by slaves about their own personal lives (Gale 1). The purpose of these narratives is to show the harmful lives of slaves and what they had to endure (“Slave” 1). Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass are two slaves who are famous for their narratives. Both authors wrote about the hardships in and out of slavery and they are both well educated

What if you were forced back into the milieu of slavery as a black, would you be capable to adapt to the pernicious time period? Knowing that whites often are scrutinizing the area for more slaves to obtain in their possession. The only thing you can do is comply to their standards. They make you a piece of their property and flagellate those who do not adhere to them. When reading Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: An American Slave by Fredrick Douglass, and Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, each demonstrated the horrendous actions of coercive power used by the proprietor in the context of each story. The owners of the slaves were able to do whatever they pleased since the beginning of their ownership. This much power was terrifying for the average slave, and this power can turn any being into what can be described as, corrupt.

This account reveals several disturbing truths about slavery as a first hand account of the trauma and suffering this slave endured. This girl Linda was exposed to physical, emotional and psychological abuse. Nothing was sacred to her in any way. Something as simple as visiting her mothers grave to mourn was interrupted by her master showing up to show his dominance. In a sense the slave was the owned by the master and the master had the right to do anything to his property. Slaves were degraded and sometimes if there were other slaves they were made to watch the torture of fellow slaves. Slaves had to keep all of their torments and sufferings to themselves and this took its own painful toll. This like many other slaves is a very true account

Slaves were constantly in danger for even the smallest actions against their masters. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs looks into the life of Linda Brent, which is Harriet Jacobs’s fake name. Slavery was the basis of Linda’s long suffering. Harriet uses fear, harassment, and loss to demonstrate how slavery hurts many women.

Families became a very important role in slaves establishing themselves as humans. In the beginning of the novel, Linda describes her miserable life living with Dr. Flint. She's a young slave girl at the time with a master who succumbs her to his

In the autobiographical work entitled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the protagonist, Linda Brent (which is actually a mere pseudonym for author Harriet Jacobs, faces an ethical dilemma that is highly emblematic of one of the core problems of slavery, especially for female slaves. Essentially, the dilemma involves allowing herself to be raped by her slave master, Dr. Sands, or to lose her feminine virtue to another Caucasian pursuer, Mr. Sands. Jacobs solves the dilemma by opting for the latter choice, which she does in order to avoid the lesser of two evils rape at the hands of her master. In this respect, Jacobs is able to act as a person with agency although the course of action she chooses demonstrates that she is still a victim of slavery. To that end, her problematic choice does represent a limited degree of liberation that is not truly liberating, since she is still forced to make a decision. True liberation implies that Jacobs would not be forced to do anything, and could make choices as she pleases. When faced with this ethical dilemma that is representative of a common plight for most slave women, Jacobs must still forsake her virtues as a woman.