The Years Of Slavery : The Torment Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

Realism creates an authentic image of daily endeavors, notably most if not all that slaves faced, and constructs a bridge that connects the gap between the readers to the slaves who are subjected to the endeavors and hardships as seen through autobiographies of many former slaves such as Harriet Jacobs’s and Frederick Douglass’s. Jacobs’s “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” and Douglass’s “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” both illustrate great examples of the obstacles and barriers that slaves had to overcome. The protagonists in both stories, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass, are obviously not your everyday comic book superheroes who has their own hidden identities, rather, they are just ordinary commoners who are also facing real-life struggles like everybody else.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a novel by Harriet Jacobs. It is a story of the true events in Jacobs’ life. Growing up with very little education, she wrote and released her book in the 1850’s. She wrote the book under the pseudonym Lydia Maria Child; it would bring much trouble for her to write in her own name in that time. Remarkably, however, her book is the first full-length narration written by a former female slave. Jacobs’ writing was primarily for white women living in the North. Her white readers should judge slaves differently.

“Cruelty is contagious in uncivilized communities.” In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs provides a portrayal of her life as a black slave girl in the 1800s. Though Harriet described herself as having yellowish brown skin; she was the child of a black mother and a white father. “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away.” Born with one drop of black blood, regardless of the status of her white father, she inherited the classification of black and was inevitably a slave. Harriet endured years of physical and mental abuse from her master and witnessed firsthand how slaves were treated based on the color of their skin. Years of abuse can only be taken for so long, like many

In the “Incidents in the life of a slave girl”, Harriet Jacobs’ intent in writing this was to give insight and perspective to her experiences with slavery as an African American. She also narrates her life throughout the obstacles she faces from being a woman in slavery. Which she indicated her purpose by saying,” slavery is terrible for men; but is far more terrible for women.” In her autobiography she displays themes such as racial prejudice, confinement, and psychological abuse.

In the memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs pens under a pseudonym with which she exposes her experiences of being a slave, her escape journey, and the incessant threats of post-slavery. Harriet Jacobs, an intelligent woman, writes her account in response to those, such as George Fitzhugh, who defends slavery. In, Harriet Jacobs’ memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she challenges those who defend slavery by recalling how her slave master harasses her, does not provide her with necessities, and even hurts her children.

The texts we have read in class portray many different kinds of forms of imprisonment, and the conditions experienced by the various authors and characters vary immensely. I was particularly intrigued in how the texts showed how men and women were treated differently under the institution of slavery. I chose to focus on two texts: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. is very emotive piece of literature. Deep feeling is woven throughout chapters one, five, and six. Words such as “happy, fondly, and hopeful” describe the slave girl’s childhood while “bitterness, foul, and vile” starkly mark her later years. I found it intriguing that Harriet never mentions God.

In the book incidents in the life of a slave, by Harriet Jacobs. Her story was painful, sad and mind blowing. What Iinda had to go through was unbelievable, a 14-year-old girl getting assaulted by a 40-year-old white man really disgusts me. The fact that he had the power to do anything to her because he owns her made me feel so bad for her because she already been through so much. She was afraid to go to sleep in her room because she didn’t know if he was going to come in her room to rape her. Iinda sanitary place should be her room that’s where you should feel the safest in. but she is scared to even go to sleep at night because of this monster. Mrs. Flint supposedly Christian, but she whipped slaves until they bleed and splits in their food.

In our modern era, over 150 years after the Civil War took place, we are a nation that has become numb to the tragedy that was slavery. However, three stories have shed some light on the reality of the struggles of enslaved people. From a firsthand experience, these narratives: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano give the reader a peek at what slaves suffered through, and help the reader relate to their all too real situations. These slave narratives served the purpose of informing white people of the time of slave life and revealing the evils of their slave holders. Many slaves

In New York, Linda Brent works for the Bruce family who are the very first to be kind to her. Not wanting to leave the Bruce family, she must move because Dr. Flint finds out she in living in New York. Again, Linda Brent is forced to flee. She moves to Boston where she is reunited with her son, Benjamin. After some years past, Linda learns of Mrs. Bruce’s passing, and she finds she herself living in England and caring for the Mr. Bruce’s child. Linda Brent eventually returns to Boston and William, Linda Brent’s only sibling, puts Ellen in boarding school and Benny moved to California with her

Many times in life, a person looks at the world and sees the world as a distorted clown mirror with all of its lies and twists. Through the reading of the document, The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs from 1861, the reader is allowed to get a small glimpse into the culture inside the United States of America from the perspective of a female African American. Some of these insights are on a simple more factual level, while others tend to seem that way, yet they have much deeper meanings. Some key thoughts that stick out to the reader are the racial shame, various practices by slaveholders, and the corruption of the society.

Harriet Jacob’s narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, reveals the realism of slavery in the south before the Civil War, and it focuses on the sexual exploitation of her as a slave. This book is not just a story of her life and how she claimed her freedom, it is a condemnation of a system that justifies slavery in moral terms, while forcing slaves to do immoral things for their survival. Within Jacobs’ narrative, the descripted abuse and the power of being a strong woman is what connects readers to this story.

The way that Harriet Jacobs describes slavery in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was not a surprise to me. I believed that slaves were treated poorly and often times were hurt, the way that I thought of slavery is just like it is described in the book if not worse. I will discuss what I believed slavery was like before I read the book, how slavery was according to the book using in text citations and examples and also explain my thoughts on why the treatment was not a surprise to me.

In Harriet Jacob’s, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” we see the struggle of a female, African-American slave during the mid to late-19th century. Jacobs, writing under the pseudonym of Linda Brent, explains the difficulties of being a slave, especially a woman slave, and the events of her life and her families. Though Jacobs experienced what we believe to be a “normal” life as a slave, she was also fortunate to receive some positive, not-so-normal treatment which many others were not as fortunate to receive. Three things contributed to her experience being a “normal” one: her attempt at freedom, sexual abuse/potential rape scenarios involving her master and her family being sold away. The first of these has two separate parts to it; her hiding out and then her actual attempt at escape.

Throughout the narrative as she confronts many adversities, Jacobs never forgets about those who aided her when she was in desperate need. Aunt Martha, Linda 's grandmother constantly provides Linda with aid, guidance, and love. Aunt Martha earned her freedom