Analysis Of Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

Freedom has had many interpretations to many different kinds of people in centuries past. Throughout history, people have struggled with problems that enslave them. Entire populations have even moved to different countries in the search for freedom from the struggles that they have face in life. Slavery can be not only physically abusive, but also mentally and sexually. Harriet Jacobs struggled with many types of slavery during her lifetime. Her own personal definitions of freedom that she defines in her story, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” changed throughout her life as a result of the different experiences that she faced. A person’s thoughts about an idea, like freedom, can change based off of their environment, the people around them, and personal experiences over time. Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, but did not have complications until she was given to a slave owner whose father was Dr. Flint. Dr. Flint sexually pressured Jacobs during her childhood. The stress and distress that Dr. Flint was causing Jacobs drove her to define freedom for the first time in her life. Her desire for freedom came “when he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his
Jennie Miller, an International Social Science Review author, describes Harriet Jacobs in her article, “Harriet Jacobs and the ‘Double Burden’ of American Slavery,” as “first, as a mother concerned with the best interest of her children, and, second, as a woman who desired to be free” (37). Jacobs’ children gave her even more motivation to fulfil her quest for freedom because if she became free, it would be easier for her children to become free. Miller even says that, “Jacobs was determined that she children” that “[s]he would be willing to die to help her children gain their freedom” (37). Jacobs’ definition of freedom, freedom from her slave owner, was reinforced by the idea that her children could become