StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Name: Course: Tutor: Date: A Critical Exploration of Female Slaves’ Condition as Depicted in Harriet Jacobs’ “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” In the narrative, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", a former escaped slave, Harriet Jacobs depicts the lives of the female slaves with the cruelties and brutalities they had had to undergo during the era of slavery…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.1% of users find it useful
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself"

Download file to see previous pages

It is because in male dominated society, female slaves were the worst sufferers of male lust. Also since women’s financial contribution was equal to their male counterparts’, they were often neglected the allowances which were normally granted to the male slaves. In the narrative, Jacob upholds the fact that the nineteenth century society was, in the first place, very much discriminatory to women. On top of it, slavery would permit the male dominated society to exert their brutal desires over the female slaves to the fullest extent.

Such brutal treatment would never hold them accountable. In the narrative, Jacob shows that the evil of slavery puts the despotic males at the control of humanly institutions like motherhood, womanhood, etc. Therefore, the slave-owners not only denied humanity by continuing slavery, but also reached the extent to oppose the most sacred institution of womanhood as well as motherhood. When Jacob says that “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women…Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs 23), she refers to a masculine but horrible face of slavery in the context of femininity.

In addition to what the slaves, whether they are male and female, suffer from, a female slave has to suffer vehemently from a torrent of emotional anguish first as an object of lust and then as a mother. Different from other slave narratives, Jacob has used the scope to view slavery from a quite different angle. Jacob notes that most of the lave narratives of her era have a common pattern of depicting the graphic details of whipping, physical torturing, etc. Subsequently these narratives uphold a dangerous escape of their slave protagonists to the North.

But Jacob depicts a quite different situation for a female slave. She shows that for a female slave, any attempt to escape from the slavery was more of a heart-piercing dilemma because of their progenies. She could neither endure the torture nor leave their children behind and run away. So, their only way was to submit to their fate. But when other women would let themselves collapse under the crushing torture of slavery, Linda retains her mental strength to oppose Mr. Flint’s desire. Linda’s mental strength is evident in a speech: “When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong” (Jacobs 46).

Indeed, this simple comment of Linda tends to summarize the gist of the whole narrative as well as of the evil of slavery in American society during the early nineteenth century. It can be viewed from different perspectives and angles. As a mother, Linda violently fights against slavery. She wants to save her children from the evil of slavery. She plays hoax on Mr. Flints in order to attain freedom for her children, Benny and Elena. She had to spend innumerous sleepless night in the tight attic in which she can hardly stand.

But her only pleasure is that she can see her run around her Aunt Martha’s house freely. Indeed, for any male reader, such sacrifice may seem to be something mere, but the pains, sufferings and angst she undergoes during those days of slavery are

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1472601-harriet-jacobs-incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave
(Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Essay)
https://studentshare.org/history/1472601-harriet-jacobs-incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave.
“Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1472601-harriet-jacobs-incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

Effects of Slavery to Humankind

The story exposes the bodily and emotional abuses a female has to endure when she is a slave.... Female slaves were subjected to a hard situation whereby they are forced to prioritize their activities Jacobs had to prioritize between being a slave and being a mother concerned about the welfare of her children.... Slavery has a tremendous negative impact on the lives of the victims according to harriet jacobs.... Q1 harriet jacobs wrote a tale about life as slave and the challenges that she had to experience....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Harriet Jacobs: Incidence in the Life of a Slave Girl

Luis Calixto Professor Wagner ENG 201-W01 April 11, 2013 Role of Women in incidents in the life of a slave girl incidents in the life of a slave girl is an instance of a slave narrative with special focus on the exploitation of slave-women at the hands of their masters.... It is through people like Amy Post, the slave girl starts a discourse with the world.... The story not just depicts these relationships, but the writer seems to show that relationships were the supporting forces in the violence stricken life of slave girls....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

incidents in the life of a slave girl” shows a clear example of the inhumane abuses placed upon slaves.... It was written by the slave girl herself so that the information is firsthand.... The abuses seemed to have gone beyond what has been observed in the past centuries that many slaves tried to free themselves from their situation, even wanting to be dead rather than continue to live as a slave.... This made Jacobs' situation quite odd for a slave....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

This essay "incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs" takes the stand that the traditional constitution of the female slave in black slavery stereotypes them to receive ill treatment with total disregard for the dignity of the female slave.... hellip;     incidents in the life of a slave girl is an autobiography written by Harriet Jacobs who disguised herself as the protagonist called Linda Brent.... It is her personal account of her life as a black slave girl in America....
7 Pages (1750 words) Book Report/Review

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet A. Jacobs, Writing as Linda Brent

hellip; Born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina in 1813, she was owned by a kindly mistress and, because orphaned, raised by her maternal grandmother, Molly Horniblow, a free woman, who is the Aunt Martha of her book She learned to read, write and sew, was a bright girl and hoped her mistress would free her.... While he did not actually whip her, he sexually harassed the girl, an issue she seeks to expose in order to enlist the understanding and action of Northern white women; that a slave woman has no freedom either as a person or a woman....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Harriet Jacobs Work by Lydia Maria Child

nbsp; Harriet Jacob's Work by Lydia Maria ChildHarriet Jacobs was a slave girl, who put down the trials and tribulations of her life in her memoir entitled “incidents in the life of a slave girl, written by herself.... In the paper “Harriet Jacob's Work by Lydia Maria Child” the author analyzes the book by Lydia Maria Child, which is a heart wrenching narrative of the life of Jacobs, marked by exploitation, especially sexual, at the hands of her master....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Frederick Douglas and Harriet Ann Jacobs: A Difference in Perspective

In the paper “Frederick Douglas and Harriet Ann Jacobs: A Difference in Perspective” the author contrasts and compares Fredrick Douglass' "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and Harriet Ann Jacob's "incidents in the life of a slave girl".... written and published at about the same period of history, 1845 and 1861 respectively, these poignant testimonials served as powerful tools in the anti-slavery movement of that time.... 'Narratives' and 'Incidents' are written from different viewpoints....
6 Pages (1500 words) Book Report/Review

Stephen Crane and Harriet Jacobs Novels Summary

An author of this paper intends to review two novels written by Stephen Crane and Harriet Jacobs: "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" and "incidents in the life of a slave girl".... hellip; Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is the novel written by Stephen Crane in 1893 and incidents in the life of a slave girl is written by Harriet Jacobs in 1861.... On the other hand, incidents in the life of a slave girl is a different representation of women....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us