Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl essays

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl essays In her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs relates to the readers her experiences as a slave girl in the Southern part of America. Her story started from her sheltered life as a child to her subordination to her mistress upon her fathers death, and her continuing struggle to live a dignified and virtuous life despite being a slave. Her struggle involves her constant degradation from her master; the danger of being sexually exploited by her mistress husband, Dr Flint; her broken relationship with a free colored man; her pregnancy to a man named Mr Sands; and her fight for her and her childrens freedom from slavery. All of these experiences helped Linda learn to fight justly for her right to become a free individual, but most of all, to be subordinated to Dr Flint, the man who wanted so bad to exploit her, yet, was not able to because of Lindas vigilance and determination not to be forever bounded by the rule of slavery, that is, that she, her children, and h er descendants will forever be the slaves of the Flint family. The book discusses various degrees of humane treatment of slavery. The South is portrayed as the most harsh and horrendous place to be a slave, while the North, even though Linda initially described it as worse than the South, is actually a lot more fairer in its treatment of the slaves; the North is also a place wherein African-Americans can no longer be slaves, rather, they will be able to live freely and in more humanistic terms than in the South. Being a free colored man in the South, meanwhile, is still binding since most free colored men aspire to free their families from the bondage of slavery; however the families manage to keep the free mans loved-ones. The rule that a slave is forever the property of a family (unless they were sold or freed) still holds and is strictly followed (to the great advantage of the white Americans). This pape...