Slave Women in Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Toni Morrison's Beloved Slavery was a horrible institution that dehumanized a race of people. Female slave bondage was different from that of men. It wasn't less severe, but it was different. The sexual abuse, child bearing, and child care responsibilities affected the females's pattern of resistance and how they conducted their lives. Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates the different role that women slaves had and the struggles that were caused from having to cope with sexual abuse. Growing up as a slave Jacobs was constantly exposed to sexual abuse from her master. She was forced to learn what it meant to be a slave that was a women and the exploits that she would have to endure. A...there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death; all these are inflicted by fiends who bear the shape of men."(Jacobs,361) The insults and violence that Jacobs endured from her master shaped the choices she made in life. He whispered foul words to her, causing Jacobs much pain. She was forced to lose her innocence early in life. Her master owned her so he was able to treat her and violate her innocence as he pleased. By losing her innocence Jacobs felt that she had done something wrong. She soon realized how she was different by being a slave that was a women. "She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child."(Jacobs,361) The choices that Jacobs took in life were influenced by the position that she was in. She gave birth to two children, hoping they would hel... ... middle of paper ... ...hat clearly inhibits motherhood. She would rather see her child dead in peace before she saw her child as a slave. However this did not happen this way because Beloved came back to haunt the family which resulted in her two boys leaving because they could not stand the pressure of living in a haunted house. So, again motherhood was inhibited because with out any children there is no mother hood and this is all because of slavery. Although Sethe prevented her children from being put back into the evil forces of slavery, there is a greater question of importance. Can Sethe be thought of as a heroine for releasing them from slavery or is it murder? These questions must also be related back to the real-life character Margaret Garner. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Ransom House, 1987 Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the life of a slave girl,1861.
It points out the hypocrisy of white Christians who support slavery. Moreover, he appeals to families. He calls out the greed of slave owners, who rip families apart in order to support their opulent lifestyle (Equaino, 61). Jacobs and Prince also speak of the wretchedness of slavery. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs documents the cruelties she had undergone under her cruel master Dr. Flint and her sufferings in order to protect her children from him.
In Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, personal accounts that detail the ins-and-outs of the system of slavery show readers truly how monstrous and oppressive slavery is. Families are torn apart, lives are ruined, and slaves are tortured both physically and mentally. The white slaveholders of the South manipulate and take advantage of their slaves at every possible occasion. Nothing is left untouched by the gnarled claws of slavery: even God and religion become tainted. As Jacobs’ account reveals, whites control the religious institutions of the South, and in doing so, forge religion as a tool used to perpetuate slavery, the very system it ought to condemn. The irony exposed in Jacobs’ writings serves to show
Jacobs, Harriet A.. Incidents in the life of a slave girl. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988
...f Jacobs’s narrative is the sexual exploitation that she, as well as many other slave women, had to endure. Her narrative focuses on the domestic issues that faced African-American women, she even states, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women”. Therefore, gender separated the two narratives, and gave each a distinct view toward slavery.
numerous types of themes. Much of the work concentrates on the underlining ideas beneath the stories. In the narratives, fugitives and ex-slaves appealed to the humanity they shared with their readers during these times, men being lynched and marked all over and women being the subject of grueling rapes. "The slave narrative of Frederick Douglas" and "Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" themes come from the existence of the slaves morality that they are forced compromise to live. Both narrators show slave narratives in the point of view of both "men and women slaves that had to deal with physical, mental, and moral abuse during the times of slavery." (Lee 44)
Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is one of the few narratives depicting the degradation’s endured by female slaves at the hand of brutal masters. Jacobs’ narrative is sending a message to women to come together and end the unfair treatment all women are subjected to. By bringing images of slavery and the message of unity of women to the forefront, Jacobs is attempting to end the tyranny over women perpetrated by men and the tyranny over blacks perpetrated by whites. Integrity and agency are ideals that Americans have fought for over the years. Jacobs reshapes these ideas and makes decisions and takes full reposibilities for her actions to become the ideal and representative image of womanhood.
...d labor, had made herself a comfortable home, was obliged to sacrifice her furniture, bid a hurried farewell to friends, and seek her fortune among strangers in Canada. Many a wife discovered a secret she never known before-that her husband was a fugitive, and must leave her to insure his own safety. Worse still, many a husband discovered that his wife had fled from slavery years ago, and as “the child follows the condition of its mother,” the children of his love were liable to be seized and carried into slavery” (155) Extremely pity, sorrow, and shame is projected throughout Jacob’s book which covers not only her life, but also the common misfortune of many victims of slavery. Undoubtedly the women slaves were repeatedly abused, discriminated, and harassed not only by the society but also by the sadistic masters becoming the most mistreated of a slavery society.
The second step is to assign overall responsibility to a specific high level individual. The compliance officer will oversee all standards and procedures, they will deal with all issues and concerns. Compliance officers make sure all policies are being followed within the organizations standards. The Compliance officer will review, revise and update all policies and procedures as needed. The compliance officer makes sure all daily activities are being conducted ethically. (Safian, 2010, p. 40)
Explain the key steps that the company should take to ensure that employees follow the code of conduct.
Slavery in the middle of the 19th century was well known by every American in the country, but despite the acknowledgment of slavery the average citizen did not realize the severity of the lifestyle of the slave before slave narratives began to arise. In Incidents in the life of a slave girl, Harriet Jacobs uses an explicit tone to argue the general life of slave compared to a free person, as well as the hardships one endured on one’s path to freedom. Jacobs fought hard in order to expand the abolitionist movement with her narrative. She was able to draw in the readers by elements of slave culture that helped the slaves endure the hardships like religion and leisure and the middle class ideals of the women being “submissive, past, domestic,
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like. Charles Ball’s Fifty Years in Chains and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl were both published in the early 1860’s while Kate Drumgoold’s A Slave Girl’s Story came almost forty years later
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
Clearly communicate the consequences of violating the regulations and punishment of those who commit infractions.
The officers in the organization should do their best to ensure that they address all the compliance issues. The officers should be in the forefront in advocating for training as well as compliance so as to ensure that all the issues related to compliance are addressed. Through the training, the chances of noncompliance will be minimized, and the leaders will not face the risk of Responsible Corporate Officer Doctrine (Lane, 2011).
The themes of Family and Religion are only a few of the ways Jacobs expresses the way of life the slaves had to endure during those difficult times. Her story is a constant reminder to those of us now to not make the same mistakes, and to move forward into a better and brighter future for human kind as a whole. The experiences of Harriet Jacob can be read for generations, and will allow us the ability to look back to see how one person can persevere through any situation with the help of family and unrelenting faith in