Analysis Of Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl
analytical Essay
1019 words
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 …show more content…
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs incidents in the life of a slave girl explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced on plantations as well as their efforts to practice motherhood.
- Analyzes how the desire for a comfortable and safe home runs throughout the book, reflecting the notion of domesticity that would have been familiar to jacobs’s mostly white female readers in the nineteenth century.
- Analyzes how linda avoids being a slave by the grace of her own intellect. she does not condemn slaves for illegal or immoral acts such as theft or adultery, but argues that the slave system dehumanizes them.
- Analyzes how jacobs' work reflects the antebellum era, pre-civil war in america, and the cult of true womanhood.
For this very reason Jacobs uses the pseudonym Linda Brent to narrate her first-person experience, which I intend to use interchangeably throughout the essay, since I am referencing the same person. All throughout the narrative, Jacobs explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced on plantations as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children from the horrors of the slave trade. Jacobs’ literary efforts are addressed to white women in the North who do not fully comprehend the evils of slavery. She makes direct appeals to their humanity to expand their knowledge and influence their thoughts about slavery as an institution, holding strong to the credo that the pen is mightier than the sword and is colorful enough to make a difference and change the the stereotypes of the black and white …show more content…
Despite Flint’s overtures, Linda is able to avoid being by the grace of her own intellect. Although her actions may seem illicit and ill-advised, like her love affair with Mr. Sands to fend off Dr. Flint, so are the repercussions if she cooperates and does nothing. Jacobs predicates that slaves suffer from the influence of the slave system on their moral development. In the text, it is evident that Linda does not condemn slaves for illegal or immoral acts such as theft or adultery, but rather saying that they usually have no other option but to behave this way. However, she also points out that slaves have no reason to develop a strong ethical sense, as they are given no ownership of themselves or final control over their actions. This is not their fault, but the fault of the slavery system that dehumanizes them. “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” (Jacobs 49). Slaves are not evil like their masters, but important parts of their personalities are left undeveloped. She argues that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free
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- In her story Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents what life was like living as a female slave during the 19th century. Born into slavery, she exhibits, to people living in the North who thought slaves were treated fairly and well, how living as a slave, especially as a female slave during that time, was a heinous and horrible experience. Perhaps even harder than it was if one had been a male slave, as female slaves had to deal with issues, such as unwanted sexual attention, sexual victimization and for some the suffering of being separated from their children. Harriet Jacobs shows that despite all of the hardship that she struggled with, having a cause to fight for, that is trying to get your children a better life
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs, in her story incidents in the life of a slave girl, explains how living in slavery was heinous and horrible.
- Analyzes how jacobs demonstrates the inner strength that these young girls had to develop to deal with their day-to-day lives.
- Analyzes how the women of the masters were not happy about the attention that their husbands gave to the young slave girls, and it was the slaves that most often got the blame for the husband’s infidelity.
- Explains that the strong religious beliefs that families held during this era made life unbearably difficult for these slaves and especially the women.
- Explains that slave owners would make the lives of these poor girls as difficult as they possibly could. they would sell them and their children to different plantations.
- Analyzes how linda, the protagonist of the story, realizes that the only way for her children to truly be safe and free is to be away from her current master.
- Opines that linda wanted her children to be free of the control of her current slave owner. she chose to work on his plantation and leave them at home with their grandmother.
- Analyzes how linda risks her life to save her children by running away from the plantation that her master owns.
- Analyzes how linda gave up part of her life and spent 7 years hiding in a coffin-like ‘garret’ attached to her grandmother’s porch to free her children from the current master.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs uses her story to show how slavery was an abusive way of life, and how much difficulties female slaves had to go through.
1554 wordsRead More - Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girlanalytical essayHarriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl A recurring theme in, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is Harriet Jacobs's reflections on what slavery meant to her as well as all women in bondage. Continuously, Jacobs expresses her deep hatred of slavery, and all of its implications. She dreads such an institution so much that she sometimes regards death as a better alternative than a life in bondage.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs's reflections on slavery and bondage are recurring themes in incidents in the life of a slave girl.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs was born with a mind that only told her place in the world was that of the little girl. she had no capacity to understand the hardships that she inherited.
- Analyzes how harriet's view of death changed as she experienced the evils of bondage. the conflict in her mind must have been divisive because she valued life.
- Opines that harriet's upbringing was an important reason for why she was so elusive in her description of the raping.
- Analyzes how harriet was torn between the value of life and the freedom of death. she fell in love with a young man that gave her hope for freedom.
- Analyzes jacobs, harriet, and gates' the classic slave narratives.
1478 wordsRead More - What Is Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl?analytical essaySlavery 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,
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how 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.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs believed that christianity was used by masters to reason their wrongdoings and prevent people from mobilizing emancipation of the slaves.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs relates to the women in the slave south, as it was never spoken of before. she demented the submissive nature to move more women towards the anti-slavery movement.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs used the family structure to show the pain and suffering of slavery and how women were impacted by this.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs awoke the northern women from her sentiments towards the oppression of women in slavery.
975 wordsRead More - Harriet Jacobs Incidents And A Slave Girl: An Analysisanalytical essaySlavery 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 this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs, charles ball and kate drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery.
- Analyzes how kate drumgoold recognizes the importance of religion throughout the community and gives it high regard.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs' incidents in the life of a slave girl follows the same path in regards to religion.
- Analyzes how charles ball, along with kate, praised god for his strength to withstand the severity of his situation. he recognizes god as the judge of one’s life.
- Analyzes the significance of the slave's ability to maintain reverence for the religion they practiced provided insight into what gave them hope.
- Analyzes how dr. flint, the master over the plantation where harriet jacobs lived, showed a great example of paternalism.
- Analyzes how drumgoold's story contrasts with harriet and charles'. she benefited from the paternalism shown by her owner.
- Analyzes how charles ball's lack of paternalism cannot be overlooked. his masters were less than kind to the poor during his enslavement.
1129 wordsRead More - Slavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobsanalytical essaySlavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs It is well known that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the United States. However, what isn't as well known is the actual severity of slavery. The experiences of slave women presented by Angela Davis and the theories of black women presented by Patricia Hill Collins are evident in the life of Harriet Jacobs and show the severity of slavery for black women. The history of slave women offered by Davis suggests that "compulsory labor overshadowed every other aspect of women's existence" (Davis 5).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the united states, but the actual severity of slavery isn't as well known. the experiences of slave women presented by angela davis and the theories of black women shown by patricia hill collins.
- Analyzes how the life of harriet jacobs shows the severity of life for slave women and the obstacles that made slave life more difficult for black women.
- Analyzes how the relative security that often accompanied motherhood served to reinforce its importance. harriet jacobs avoided sexual encounters with her abusive master and chose to have a child with mr. sands.
- Describes collins, patricia, black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment.
- Opines that jacobs, harriet, and yellin, jean. incidents in the life of a slave girl.
- Analyzes how the impregnation of jacobs arouses hostility from dr. flint and brings on harsher treatment.
1063 wordsRead More - 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
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how jacobs' autobiography, incidents in the life of a slave girl, shows how monstrous and oppressive slavery is.
- Analyzes how the white population of the south has nearly complete control over religious institutions, including how they reach slave audiences.
- Argues that slaves are not entitled to their own belief system, and that a slave's understanding of the bible is almost entirely dependent on the white interpretation that they are force-fed.
- Analyzes how slaveholders repeat this behavior to maintain their power over the religious sphere. in the wake of the nat turner insurrection, slaves encounter the same fierce resistance to allowing them access to religion.
- Analyzes how whites and slaveholders of the south use religious dominance as a means to manipulate and oppress slaves.
- Analyzes how the slaveholders use religion as a subjugating and oppressive force to control slaves by distorting their morals and consciences.
- Analyzes how jacobs' depiction of religion in the south throughout incidents reveals it to be a tool owned and used by slaveholders to strengthen the system of slavery.
- Analyzes the perversity of the system of slavery in society. slaves are forced to seek god through white channels, which are manipulated to teach slaves obedience and fear.
1184 wordsRead More - Harriet Jacob : A Slave, And Had Been Since The Day Sheanalytical essayHarriet Jacobs was a slave, and had been since the day she was born in 1813. However, she realized her enslavement when her mother died when Jacob was only six years old. She went through many hardships during her time as a slave. One being owned by Dr. Flint. This situation then led her to have kids with Mr. Sands, in which changed everything. She became determined to fight and do whatever possible for her and her children’s freedom.
In this essay, the author
- Narrates how harriet jacobs realized her enslavement when her mother died when she was six years old. she went through many hardships during her time as a slave, one being owned by dr. flint.
- Analyzes how harriet jacob talks about her family as an important element in her life. her father, brother, grandmother, and mistress helped her keep a positive outlook on life after her mother passed.
- Analyzes how jacobs' mistress created the belief that she had a good relationship with some of her white owners like her.
- Explains that dr. flint was a strict and selfish slave owner to jacobs. she refused to believe that she was property. after birthing her children, she became capable of doing anything for their freedom.
- Analyzes how nat turner's rebellion played an important role in jacobs life. the church emphasized love and brotherhood, while christians acted out in brutal behavior.
- Analyzes how jacobs made it clear that slavery is hard, especially under dr. flint. they did not have the right to do what they wanted.
- Recommends incidents in the life of a slave girl to anyone who likes history and wants to know about slavery from the perspective of one.
893 wordsRead More - Despair in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girlanalytical essayDespair in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Linda Brent, Ms. Jacobs' pseudonym while writing "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," became so entrenched in hatred of slaveholders and slavery that she lost sight of the possible good actions of slaveholders. When she "resolved never to be conquered" (p.17), she could no longer see any positive motivations or overtures made by slaveholders. Specifically, she could not see the good side of Mr. Flint, the father of her mistress. He showed his care for her in many ways, most notably in that he never allowed anyone to physically hurt her, he built a house for her, and he offered to take care of her and her bastard child even though it was not his. Mr. Flint tries to take care of Ms. Jacobs as well as he can.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how linda brent, ms. jacobs' pseudonym while writing "incidents in the life of a slave girl," became so entrenched in hatred of slaveholders and slavery that she lost sight of the possible good actions
- Analyzes how mr. flint protects ms. jacobs from physical abuse that anyone would wish upon her. he does not strike her because he cannot bear to.
- Analyzes how flint treated her as a human being. punishing slaves was standard course of action, not evil, and did not make the punisher cruel.
- Opines that the overseer may have his own reasons for not forcing ms. jacobs to work in the fields.
- Opines, "i will make peace for you with your mistress... poor, foolish girl! you don't know what is for your own good.
- Analyzes how jacobs offers many times to "make a lady" and builds her own cottage at his own cost. however, her vow keeps her from thinking rationally about accepting his offers.
- Analyzes how mr. flint offers to take care of his wife after she commits the sin of procreation outside of a marital household.
777 wordsRead More - John Carbone 3/10/14 EN 102 In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs, Jacob’s writing demonstrates to challenge the acceptance of slavery during the 1800’s. Jacobs, who is writing inside a “contact zone” tries to connect both societies in this story. According to Mary Louise Pratt a contact zone is: “Social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today”(Pratt 607).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs' "incidents in the life of a slave girl" challenges the acceptance of slavery during the 1800's.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs is writing to an audience of white people so they can understand what being a slave was like.
- Argues that jacobs and pratt are accurate in their views of contact zones, but does incorporating a contact zone into her work change how we read and understand her?
- Analyzes how jacobs uses literary devices to help readers understand another society. her tone and voice are shown through the slaves understanding of the inhuman view of slavery.
- Analyzes how the horrible atrocities that are written in the story are to grab the reader’s attention and understand what actually life was like for a slave. the connection the writer is trying to make between the two cultures is an example of an "auto ethnographic" text.
- Explains that an auto ethnographic text is a text in which people undertake to describe themselves in terms that engage with representations others have made of them.
- Analyzes jacobs' auto-ethnographic text, which states that no promise or writing given to a slave is legally binding.
- Opines that jacobs' auto-ethnographic text was written during the era of slavery to prove how wrong human mastery is in society.
- Opines that jacobs wrote this narrative to inform both zones of the conflicts in society.
- Analyzes pratt's use of guaman poma as a source to explain her idea of contact zone.
- Analyzes how is trying to prove as harshly as possible the wrongful life of slavery.
- Analyzes how jacobs' quote is followed by "a woman of north carolina", which is supposed to make the reader feel that even people from the south knew how bad slavery was.
- Analyzes how jacobs' narrative has a heavy social influence for its time. her methods of exposure are not only politically correct but are revealing and inspiring.
- Analyzes how jacobs, being a slave, had the ability to capture the audience's attention as to how fragile her life was.
1057 wordsRead More - Due to the fact that it was extremely dangerous and tough, African Americans seldom were able to find ways to resist the perilous bounds of slavery. Throughout the history of American slavery, blacks attempted to resist whenever possible, despite the odds against slaves succeeding at a rebellion or escaping permanently. Due to the power held over them, slaves tried to find ways within limits in which they could resist there owners, however, these efforts were highly ineffective at chipping away at the slave system. In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs there is evidence of ways that this resistance is evident but surely unsuccessful.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that african americans rarely found ways to resist the perilous bounds of slavery, despite the odds against them succeeding at a rebellion or escaping permanently.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs fell in love with a free black carpenter who wanted to buy her freedom but dr. flint did not grant consent.
- Analyzes the ineffectiveness of resistance in harriet jacobs' attempt to allude to dr. flint and his offer to build her a house.
- Analyzes how jacobs offers a look into neighboring plantations that reveal an in depth look at how slaveholders kept control over slaves and how cruelty became the norm facilitating to the lack of slave resistance.
- Analyzes how slavery used misinformation and the lack of access to education to keep slaves quiet and hopeless. this led to the common assumption that blacks were inferior.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs' theme in her autobiography is the realization that the power of slavery proved to be in conquerable from the point of view of the slave.
705 wordsRead More