Harriet Ann Jacobs's Life

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl By: Harriet Ann Jacobs In the Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Ann Jacobs describes her own life as a slave when she was younger until she was set free. “The narrative was long believed to be a fictional account of slavery” (Carson, p.1). “Through extensive research… it is now considered one of the most important antebellum slave narratives” (Carson 1). Jacobs describes her life in the narrative by using the name Linda Brant instead of using her own. Through her narrative of her life as a slave, Jacobs shows the many things that she went through as a child. The reader notices the life of Jacobs through the plot, the setting, the characters, and
The reader also knows or notices that most of her life was taken place in a town in the South that was not mentioned anywhere in the story. During the time Linda was born and until the day she was set free there was a lot of discrimination against African-Americans. As the reader can tell, slaves were tortured and mistreated in every way possible to mankind. According to Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the reader probably knows that no promise or writing given to a slave is legally binding; for, according to Southern laws, a slave, being property, can hold no
Linda Brent, of course, is the main character and also the protagonist of the narrative. She, as stated before, was a slave that was, at an early age, faced with harassment and being forced to have a sexual relationship with her white master. She is later faced with the struggle to protect herself from her mean master and running away from him or the struggle to protect her children. The second main character is Dr. Flint. In the narrative he was one of the antagonist and also Linda’s master. In the story he was known to be a cruel man, forces Linda to have a relationship with him, and threatens her. The next character is Aunt Martha, who is Linda’s grandmother. She also watches her children and grandchildren suffer, being sold, and abused by their masters. Mr. Sands was Linda’s white lover and the father of her two children. He made a promise to Linda to buy his children from Dr. Flint and then set them free, but always managed not to do so. One of the main themes of this story is the power of slavery during this time. Most slave owners where cruel and inhumane. They would beat, torture, and mistreat the slaves. An example would be Dr. Flint. He would mistreat and obligate Linda to do things she did not want to. The slave owners felt superior over the slaves and the lives of the slaves. Even the “nicest” of slave owners would feel the superior. Like Mr. Sands promised