Harriet Jacobs Autobiographical Account Of Slavery

Thought out this year we have focused on the theme of confinement. Harriet Jacobs in her autobiographical account of slavery emphasizes this theme not just by discussing the hardships of being a slave, but the hardships of being a woman as a slave. Not only did she have no choice as to where she would live or work, but even with what she did with her body. She lived the majority of her life with no control in a way that many women could never dream of in their worst nightmares. Being owned by another human wasn’t her only form of confinement though. She was also confined through the objectification by Dr. Flint, the stigma of a woman becoming pregnant out of wedlock, the motherhood that was forced upon her, and, of course, the race that she didn’t choose. While there has
Flint, Linda devises a plan to become pregnant. The plan indeed becomes successful, but she finds that it has caused her to jump out of the pot and into the fire. She escapes the confinement of Dr. Flint and finds herself confined in this new role of motherhood. During that time, especially in the North, motherhood was seen as the highest role that women could achieve. Like throughout all of history women had basically two choices: be the Virgin Mary or be Eve. Linda was no different. When she told her grandmother about her pregnancy, the Grandmother was visibly upset going as far as to call Linda a “disgrace to [her] dead mother” (Jacobs 40). This reaction is one that many women today have faced. Women are supposed to be pure beings, only having sex with one man after they are married. This expectation, however, is completely unfair to many women of the past and of today. Like Linda, these women don’t get pregnant all by themselves, but they are the ones who are blamed. Like Linda, they will often be abandoned by their family when they need the help the most. Like Linda, they are seen as impure and as a