The Slave Mother Analysis

The theme of mother hood is present throughout the novel. Morrison portrays the struggles black slave women faced as mothers within the institution of slavery. The positive qualities of motherhood are constantly tested against the cruelty of slavery within the novel. Morrison reflects the nature of slavery through the idea of slavery taking away the maternal rights of slave women. This evident in the subside story of Baby Suggs and her unclear memory of her own children.

Sojourner’s children were all sold off to slavery. She suffered a lot from this because she knew that her children were going to be broken, a term used by white slave masters to strip a slave of th... ... middle of paper ... ...his helped improve slave and women movements. Sojourner was able to effectively captivate her audience’s attention with the multiple rhetorical devices she used. She delivered a powerful and meaningful message that was well accepted and understood by the audience. She appeals to her audience emotionally through her personal experiences, allusions to the Bible, repetition, and rhetorical questions to accomplish her message of the unfair treatment to women and slaves.

On line 21, she refers to slavery as "The degradation, the wrongs, the vices," in which she uses Synathroesmus. Synathroesmus is a series of adjectives compiled often in the service of criticism. The reader can note that she criticises slavery by the diction in the passage. Jacobs wanted a better life along with a better life for her children. It would have killed her to ever have to witness her children being treated brutally and harsh by their master.

In the speech, "Ain't I a Woman?" Sojourner Truth gives examples of how she was robbed of womanhood and the amazing gift of motherhood. As a slave in the late 1700's to early 1800's, Truth is used for manual labor. Many people would expect Truth has gained others respect due to her unyielding work as a slave, but in reality all she wants is the respect of being a mother. The time period in which this speech is given gives Sojourner Truth the opportunity to explain her relations with white men and women and testify to the unequal treatment she has received.

Slavery 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). This is quite apparent through examination of the life of Harriet Jacobs.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs strongly speaks to its readers by describing the brutalities of slavery and the way slave owners can destroy peaceful lives. After reading and rereading the story have noticed certain things regarding how Jacobs tries to educate her readers and her intended audience which is the women of the North. As if we do not know enough about how terrible slavery is, this story gives detailed examples of the lives of slaves and provokes an incredible amount of emotions. She uses several tactics in her writing to reach her desired audience and does so very well. The way she wrote the story does not seem as though she is emotionally connected.

A perspective that was relatively secretive during Jacobs’ time. Jacobs’ narrative focuses on subjugation due to race but it also portrays many women an strong and often open roles. Women in these roles were minimal and often suffered for their outspoken roles. Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is a powerful statement unveiling the impossibility and undesirability of achieving the ideal put forth by men and maintained by women. Jacobs directs her account of the afflictions a woman is subjected to in the chain of slavery to women of the north to gain sympathy for their sisters that were enslaved in the south.

Since the author is African-American so she has given the picture of black people in America after civil war, Although... ... middle of paper ... ...es her experience as a woman-slave who has no right to her body, and her experience as a slave mother who is used to the violation of her own body, but cannot bear the forcible extraction of her milk meant for her children, Sethe's body itself with its chokecherry tree scar is written into the text on many levels. When she has sex with Paul D, it is the first time she is using her body for her own pleasure. The pain of Denver’s childbirth is written in through her bleeding feet about which Amy says "it hurts for something new to grow". Through her deep complicated ideas to present slavery and miseries of black women through memories and flashbacks Toni Morrison has probably created her masterpiece. Sethe alone as the heroine of the novel presets all the ideas above, she is a female black African American slave who had suffered from being a woman as well as a slave.

Her love and commitment to protecting her children is so deep that she, unwilling to surrender them to the physical, sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse of slavery, attempts to murder them. This single act haunts Sethe (literally and figuratively) for the rest of her life. Baby Suggs, Sethe’s ‘mother-in-law’, a spiritual woman who preaches to the black community is likewise affected by Sethe’s actions. Sethe and Baby Suggs are both mothers and former slaves. Both women have been negatively affected by the experiences of slavery.

These experiences that Harriet Jacobs puts into words intrigues her readers, and allows her to show the many different themes her work holds. Family and community serve a great purpose in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Slavery dehumanized people, and made human beings look upon slaves as less then human. Slavery wanted its slaves to become nameless items, instead of living breathing human beings. Most slaves fell into anger, depression, and lifelessness many were able to not only survive, but thrive due to their family.