Harriet Jacobs Incidents And A Slave Girl: An Analysis
analytical Essay
1129 words
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 …show more content…
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.
I believe there were things overshadowing Charles’ attention. While the man does give credit to a supreme being, his relation to the Christian culture comes from his encounters to which he documents in great detail with fellow slaves. As previously stated, I believe the significance of the slave’s ability to maintain reverence for the religion they practiced provided insight into what gave them hope. The story of Exodus is linked to many slave narratives and it was no different for these three …show more content…
Slave-owners looked upon the African Americans as lesser people who were in desperate need of support. They were not capable of surviving on their own without white guidance (Boston). Dr. Flint, the master over the plantation where Harriet Jacobs lived showed a great example of paternalism. He cared for Harriet but in a possessive way to which he continuously sought the woman for his personal needs. For Dr. Flint, the slaves he owned should be grateful towards him and be willing to do what he asked with no rebuttal. This wasn’t the case with Harriet. She simply refused him at every chance which only angered the slaveholder. Jacobs resisted the doctor and his paternalistic ways. Harriet Jacobs sheds light onto the self-interest that drives the paternalism displayed by the masters. The slaves were property and who wanted to showcase poorly groomed property? If there was someone visiting, the slaves, except for those within the house, would be hidden away and those who worked within the master’s home would dawn nicer clothes and better meals would be prepared all in a show for the
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- analytical
- argumentative
- Analysis Of Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girlanalytical essayIn 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
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.
1019 wordsRead More - 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 - 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 - 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 - Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl And Frederick Douglassargumentative essayThe issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
In this essay, the author
- Explains that slavery was an unresolved issue in the united states during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. they compare two different books that show us what being a slave actually was.
- Compares the roles of women and men in incidents in the life of a slave girl and the narrative of the life of frederick douglass.
- Analyzes how both characters, frederick douglass and linda brent, have a contact with the concept of education. the owners saw slave education as something wrong and it was strictly prohibited.
- Compares the two books, incidents in the life of a slave girl and the narrative of the life of frederick douglass.
- Concludes that these books give us an overall idea of how it was to be a slave during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. however, the fact that they were written by slaves themselves makes them not completely reliable.
1202 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 - The Classic Slave Narratives: Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass and Olaudah Equianoanalytical essayThe book The Classic Slave Narratives is a collection of narratives that includes the historical enslavement experiences in the lives of the former slaves Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano. They all find ways to advocate for themselves to protect them from some of the horrors of slavery, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, imprisonment, beatings, torturing, killings and the nonexistence of civil rights as Americans or rights as human beings. Also, their keen wit and intelligence leads them to their freedom from slavery, and their fight for freedom and justice for all oppressed people.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the classic slave narratives is a collection of narratives that includes the historical enslavement experiences in the lives of the former slaves harriet jacobs, frederick douglass and olaudah equiano.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs' autobiography, incidents in the life of a slave girl, reflects on the times that her master dr. flint consistently tried to molest her sexually.
- Analyzes how harriet avoids dr. flint's sexual abuse, but suffers from his verbal and physical abuse. she consents to a relationship with mr. sands, of greater status in the community.
- Narrates how dr. flint refused to sell harriet and her children to mr. sands, but he threatened her with selling them to another slaveholder if she refused his sexual advances. hiding in her grandmother's attic for seven years is torturous to her body.
- Narrates how harriet escapes from her grandmother's attic to the north in 1842 on a boat to philadelphia, pennsylvania, where she gets assistance from 'abolitionists' to get to new york.
- Describes how harriet's mistress dies and she moves to boston where her daughter, son, and brother, john are residing. they then move to rochester, new york and become part of the anti-slavery movement.
- Describes how harriet is warned by her former employer mr. willis and his new wife that a relative of her mistress is in town, and there is danger of their recapture. she joins the anti-slavery movement and acts as an orator for the cause.
- Analyzes how frederick douglass' narrative of the life explains how it is customary for the white masters in maryland to be relentless about keeping the slaves ignorant of knowledge of themselves.
- Analyzes frederick's experiences as a slave under two masters, captain anthony and colonel lloyd. he witnesses the brutality and cruelty of mr. severe.
- Narrates how frederick was sent to baltimore to work for captain anthony's relatives, hugh and sophia auld, while sophia taught him how to read and write.
- Narrates how frederick learns the power of reading and educating himself and other slaves to use as a weapon against slavery. he is taken from baltimore to st. mary's, maryland in 1833.
- Narrates how frederick is a refugee slave until his freedom is bought by some of his antislavery supporters.
- Analyzes how olaudah equiano writes about his life as a slave in his memoirs the life of gustavis vassa.
- Narrates how olaudah's new master is captain henry pascal who gives him the name gustavis vassa. he travels with captain pascal to many places until he adopts english culture and christianity.
- Narrates how olaudah feels betrayed when he discovers that captain james doran is headed back to the hell called the west indies. he was sold to a quaker from philadelphia named robert king who taught him to improve his reading and writing skills.
- Describes how olaudah returns to london where he becomes involved in the abolitionist movement. he is encouraged to write about and publish his experiences.
- Explains that harriet, frederick, and olaudah were slaves sharing their stories and experiences in their lives. they fought for themselves and for others to escape the horrors of slavery.
1992 wordsRead More - The slave narratives of the ante-bellum time period have come across 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."
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how douglass uses irony and a sense of unawareness in his narrative to describe the toils of women through his aunt's afflictions but failed to accurately address and interpret.
- Analyzes how jacob's and douglass' narratives embody the rivalry between the clashing motives that generated autobiographies of slave life.
- Analyzes how douglass and jacobs were determined to fight to the death for their freedom, but he never lost his determination to gain freedom from slavery and respect from the exact ones that were torturing him.
- Analyzes the themes of "the slave narrative of frederick douglas" and "harriet jacobs: incidents in the life of a slave girl."
- Compares two women's slave narratives: "incidents in the life of a slaves girl" and "the history of mary prince".
1006 wordsRead More - Slavery and Christianity in Harriet A. Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herselfanalytical essayThe Incongruity of Slavery and Christianity in Harriet A. Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the incongruity of slavery and christianity in harriet a. jacob's incidents in the life of a slave girl, written by herself.
- Analyzes how thomas jefferson, a white, christian, political southern slave owner, wrote these words in 1776. the declaration of independence contradicts himself when he states that all men are created equal, while his slaves were denied all that humans were meant to cherish.
- Analyzes how slave owners accepted and rationalized slavery through the holy bible. the bible mentions slavery on numerous occasions, but none of these passages condemn it.
- Analyzes how the bible contradicts other verses when discussing slavery and the treatment of slaves. ephesians 6:5-9 instructs masters to "give unto your servants that which is just and equal."
- Analyzes how jacobs discusses the role that religion played in a slave's life. the tenth commandment in exodus 20:10 says to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."
- Analyzes how southern women knew of slave women's treatment from their husbands, which caused a great amount of jealousy toward their spouses.
- Analyzes how jacobs reveals to her audience that christianity was not to enlighten slaves, but rather to maintain the social system of slavery.
- Analyzes how the slaves were dissatisfied with reverend pike's sermons, and began attending church again when a new reverend arrived in town.
- Analyzes how jacobs believes that slaves are closer to god than the slave owners.
- Analyzes how the statutes of christianity contrasted with the actions of the typical southern slave owner. slavery was a cruel, perverse institution that no human should ever endure.
1695 wordsRead More - Freedom, for a slave, was a prize only a few could achieve. For the price of wanting and attempting to achieve freedom, if failed, ended in death. Slavery was never great but it was especially tough on young girls. Freedom or death was the only way most slaves saw themselves getting out of the horrible conditions they had no control over. Harriet Jacobs, a young slave girl, took it upon herself to remove herself and her kids from this lifestyle in extraordinary measures. Although it took time to see results, Harriet Jacobs proved to be a strong woman who did anything in her power to guarantee that her kids live a better life. Harriet Jacobs exhibited a number elements of active resistance in, Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs, a young slave girl, removed herself and her kids from slavery in extraordinary measures.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs portrayed resistance when she had to put up with dr. flint's inappropriate behavior.
- Analyzes how jacobs' resistance to mrs. flint's jealous behavior depicted her strength. she endured the lashes made by the jealous wife and had self-control.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs portrayed resistance in having hope that her child would make it safe traveling to the north.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs, a well-known slave around town, was resistance by deciding to make an escape.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs demonstrated the resistance she had within while risking her life helping another. she knew the punishment for teaching another slave to read and write.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs knew her life was no longer meaningless when she gave birth to her children and would do anything to protect them from her master, slavery, and life.
- Analyzes how harriet jacobs was a resistant woman who showed hope, self-control, and courage. she risked her life to make her loved ones lives better.
1044 wordsRead More