The Slavery Of The United States

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 is a common topic taught to most people in America. Most of what is learned comes from the personal stories of those who lived as slaves. The excerpt of the passage “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” written by Harriet Jacobs, goes beyond discussing the life as a slave. But discusses the hypocrisy and double standards that revolve slavery.

The distinct introduction to each of their lives not only set an impression for the reader but also serves as a precursor to the different aspirations and dreams of escape that Jacobs and Douglas distinctly had. Beginning with Jacobs her narrative was written around her scarce time when she was not tending to “household duties” and avoiding the “unclean images” her master regularly imposed on her. Jacobs did not have informal education as frequent as Douglass and

Jacobs bravely tells her story about escaping slavery with her children. She was the first writer to show the grisly details of slavery and discuss sexual abuse. Jacobs criticizes herself for getting pregnant to get out of the sexual abusive relationship of her slave owner by saying “I felt as if I was forsaken by God and man; as if all my efforts must be frustrated; and I became reckless in my despair” (Jacobs 2194). Jacobs had to hide for almost seven years in her grandmother’s attic in attempt to gain her and her children’s freedom from their former slave-owners (Yellin 2185). In 1852, Mrs. Willis, a family friend, bought Jacobs freedom, for which Jacobs felt “I was robbed of my victory” because she considered herself a person, unable to be bought or sold (Yellin 2185). Harriet Ann Jacobs publishes her story to open people’s eyes to what slavery really was.

February 11, 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery. Harriet Jacobs’s parents were Elijah and Delilah Jacobs mother and father of Harriet and her older brother John Jacob’s. Elijah Jacob’s was a skilled carpenter, who made enough money so that his family could all live together. Harriet Jacob’s grandmother Molly Horniblow played a major role in the Jacob’s family life. At the age six Harriet Jacob’s mother passed away Harriet was sent away to live with her mother’s owner and his mistress. “I was born a slave; but I never knew till six years of happy childhood had passed away.” Harriet felt as if she was living a good life until her mother passed away. Even though she was born a slave she did not feel

The autobiography , Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl, was written by Harriet Ann Jacobs under the pseudonym name Linda Brendt. This book details the life of slavery and how Jacobs’ achieved freedom for her children and for herself. Jacobs’ detailed these painful, and intricate accounts through forty-one chapters. Harriet Jacobs unfortunate experiences as a slave were significantly shaped because of her gender. Jacobs did indeed endure struggles through her race, but her gender is of great significance during her time as a slave. Jacobs used herself as an example to show how enslaved women were manipulated by their masters, the difficulties of being a mother during slavery mother, and how the fight for freedom were all impacted by her gender.

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

A woman could not be virtuous while enslaved, as they were victims of slavery and men. This impeded women to possess the virtues of true womanhood. Jacobs in her narrative also gave examples of how these virtues were broken and she is not allowed to be a lady. Both Douglass and Jacobs assert and identify themselves through the notions of manhood and womanhood. They believed and tried to make us see how womanhood and manhood based on freedom cannot be achieved while slavery and all its infamy was still in effect.

He shows some emotion in the earlier accounts of his family life, but as he grows older his related memories about family grow distant. Granted, the memories of his childhood are told in the breathless and helpless remembered voice of a child, but as Douglass’s life continues the details about family relationships are less descriptive and emotional. For example, little is ever said about when he is married or about his own children. Jacobs quest is about establishing and protecting her virtuous right to womanhood through the credibility of motherhood. Whereas, Douglass is searching for the holy grail of manhood, through self-respect, education, and societal status. His lack of emotion over the natal alienation of his family relationships is not an indicator that Douglass does not care about these things. Douglass and Jacobs are simply writing from two acceptably different gender perspectives on slavery. One is archetypal of the female slave narrative, while the other is exemplary of the male slave narrative. Both are in conformity with the expected general prose narratives, and gender roles for woman and men of the time. Jacob’s publication of sexual abuse is shocking for her time, thus her voice is cloaked under the device of novelization that the Victorian moral sensibilities of her female readers find acceptable. Douglass, on the other hand, uses the voice of the enlightened self-made man –

Harriet Jacobs was born a slave herself in Edenton, North Carolina and was one of the first women to write a slave narrative in the United States of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). It was to address the white women of the North and thousands of “Slave mothers that are still in bondage in the South” (Jacobs 126). Jacobs tells her life of twenty-seven years in slavery in-depth life as a slave, and the choices she made to gain freedom for herself and her children. She writes a story about her families ' and masks them as well as her name as “Linda Brent” in her novel to protect herself in a sense as well as some of the important places in town. Harriet shows in her story the fights and sexual abuse that she faced as a slave on

The punishments from slave owners are just as cruel as the living conditions. Jacob’s brother, Benjamin, attempts to run away to the North in search of freedom, but is captured and brought back in chains (9). Jacobs and her grandmother are occasionally able to see him during his time in jail, but Jacobs remembers a story of Benjamin’s jailing by writing, “One day he was heard to sing and laugh. This piece of indecorum was told to his master, and the overseer was ordered to re-chain him” (9). The owner purposely chains him up for finding a spec of joy in his life as property. Jacobs also shares a brutal experience she witnesses. She witnesses a woman giving birth to her first child, but the woman is begging God take her and her newborn, so they can be free from slavery. The woman's mistress looked on with a grin (3-4). Her writings are sometimes hard to read, but they show just how horrific these slave-owners treat them. The owners wanted their slaves to feel like they deserve it, and as if the slaves are no better than the dirt they walk on. Douglass explains further by writing, “He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel

Jacobs is born to her mother in the southern states of America. She is born without freedom and rights as she is black, property to her master as a slave. Her mother is a slave to a man name Dr. Flint and so therefor she too is a slave of his property. On page 26, the first sentence of chapter 5, Jacobs states "During the first years of my service in Dr. Flint's family I was accustomed to share some indulgences with the children of my mistress. Thought this seemed to me no more than right, I was grateful for it, and tried to merit the kindness by the faithful discharge of my duties." Harriet shows gratefulness for a period of time that she is a slave. The next line says "But I now entered on my fifteenth year -- a sad epoch in the life of a slave." Harriet starts to show hatred for her slavery and sadness. As a fifteenth year slave she is getting tired of how she is being treated, many girls that are her age at this time would be very frustrated with this too.

Harriet Jacobs, in her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was born into slavery in the south. While her youth contained “six years of happy childhood,” a few tragedies and mistresses later, Jacobs spent many years in pain under the possession of her cruel five-year-old mistress, Emily Flint, and Emily’s father, Dr. Flint. Once able to obtain freedom, Jacobs spent most of her life working for the Anti-Slavery office in New York, in hope that one day she could make a difference in the world. “She sought to win the respect and admiration of her readers for the courage with which she forestalled abuse and for the independence with which she chose a lover rather than having one forced on her” (Jacobs 921). Linda Brett, the pseudonym that Jacobs uses to narrate her life story, endures the harsh behavior women slaves were treated with in the south during the nineteenth century. The dominant theme of the corruptive power and psychological abuse of slavery, along with symbolism of good and evil, is demonstrated throughout her narrative to create a story that exposes the terrible captivity woman slaves suffered. The reality of slavery in the past, versus slavery today is used to reveal how the world has changed and grown in the idea of racism and neglect.

Jacobs creates a connection by demonstrating her horrible experience as a slave and her humiliation in her choices to escape it: “Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another” (919). This shows that Jacobs attempts a draw an emotional response from free women so they will her understand of not only her experience as a female slave, but of many enslaved women that were subject to the same abuse as she. Nudelman states that on the title page of the first edition “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” there is the Scripture Isaiah 32:9: “Rise up, ye women that are at ease! Hear my voice, ye care less daughters! Give ear unto my speech.” This illustrates Jacobs’ motive of mobilizing free women to look upon enslaved women, pity them, and strive to free them. Continuing, Jacobs also uses her time in her grandmother’s crawl space to establish a connection with her female audience with a motherly dilemma. She is able to see her children, but she is unable to speak to them, nor give them the knowledge that she is directly above them (923). Mothers could sympathize with Jacobs wondering how they would respond if they were separated from their kids.

The narrative begins with the tale of Jacob’s childhood. She tells tales of a childhood oblivious to slavery being allowed to enjoy the pleasures of child’s play. Her mother died when she was six years old and was left under the mastership of her white foster sister. On her deathbed, her mother’s white sister promised to protect her slave sister’s children. While, this was true during her lifetime, upon her death, Jacob’s expected that she would be freed. Jacob’s first painful realization that despite what appeared to be a good relationship, her mistress viewed her as a slave and did not free but bequeathed her to her five year old niece. From this point Jacob’s has a new master and mistress .