2005. Print. Wayne, Tiffany K. Women’s Roles in Nineteenth-century America. . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
At the age of seven Harriet worked as a nurse and did house work ("Harriet Tubman."). Harriet then suffered seizures, headaches, and vivid dream experiences after she was hit with a metal weight when she refused to listen to her master (wikipedia.org). She didn’t have a regular education like most people she just absorbed her education through everyday life (Petry). Ramos 3 Later, her adulthood years that lead up to her fame. She escaped and ran away to avoid being sold and left her parents, siblings and first husband John Tubman, a free slave who was to afraid to follow behind ("Harriet Tubman.").
Harriet stepped in front of the brick, trying to give the slave a chance to escape, and, in doing so, was hit in the head, knocking her out. Because of this injury, she had seizures and extremely painful headaches her entire life. When she was old enough, she was rented out to the Cook family. They disregarded her as a person or as an equal, making her sleep and share food with the dogs. The Cooks did not have enough money to keep her, so they gave her back.
The last owners Isabella would ever be sold to were the Dumont's (Gilber,7). She ran away from this owner, Dumont, in 1826 which was a year before slaves were to be freed. Dumont had promised to let her go that year, but when it came time he refused. She wouldn't stand to be bullied in such a way (Adler, 8-9). One bad experience Isabella had as a slave for Mr. Dumont had to do with a man she loved, Robert.
Being one of nine children in her family, she didn’t get very much attention as a child. Harriet experienced a lot of physical violence in her childhood also. When she was 12 years old she was hit with a 2 pound iron weight in the head. This caused her to have periodic seizures for her whole life. In 1849, Harriet was going to be sold from the plantation, but she escaped before anyone saw her.
Retrieved February 25, 2014, from Women in the 19th Century: http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/women_in_the_nineteenth_century.htm • Wojtczak, H. (2008). WOMEN'S STATUS IN MID 19TH-CENTURY ENGLAND. Retrieved February 25, 2014, from http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/19/overview.htm • Wyoming PBS. (2006). The Roman Empire in the First Century.
Here we may have a clue to the origination of the character Nelly. This somewhat knowledgeable narrator of our story could possibly be based at least partially on Emily's aunt Elizabeth. Our author's aunt could have been an authoritative personality in her life. Nelly did seem to take on characteristics we might associate with a caring aunt in the life of a young woman. Victor A Neufeldt writes that, "in 1835 Emily went to Roe Head School, where Charlotte, her sister, had recently been appointed as a teacher" (Neufeldt 2).
19 Feb. 2014 . Alcott, Louisa M. “Miss Alcott on Woman Suffrage.” New York Times. 28 Oct. 1885. The New York Times. 18 Feb. 2014 .
Because of such factor, Sethe was given away when she was little and barely had recognition with her mother. Due to this past trauma in her childhood, it had an immediate effect on her as an adult which goes to show how she herself is struggling providing the care and love towards her children. Slavery had taken everything away from her; even the milk to feed her own children was stolen from the schoolteacher’s nephew who played foul towards Sethe. These events made her feel worthless of being a mother as she was unable to nurture her children. As Sethe realizes the experience of slavery and being held with no option, she does not at all circumstances want her children to endure through the same situation.
There was no such thing as a rest for slaves. In 1835, Harriet came between her owner and a slave who was running away. The owner threw a lead weight, that weighed 2 punds, at the runaway, but it hit Harriet instead. the hit put hir in a coma and it took months for her to recover. She never fully recovered from the hit and after that suffered from blackouts, really bad headaches, and sleeping spelss for the rest of her life.