Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The story I will be discussing is entitled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs. This book is relative to more than a few of previous topics that have been discussed in class during lectures. The book touches on the struggles that enslaved women faced on a day to day basis. It follows the life on author Harriet Ann Jacobs and does an excellent job demonstrating how women in bondage unlike their free white counterparts, had no male figure to protect them. At the same time it showed that black women were not the only ones who subject to unfair treatment. Although not as harsh her book does illustrate how white women too are victimized by the harsh reality of slavery. White women who were seen as pure, submissive, and virtuous were also impacted by their husband’s sometimes evil ways. Her book whether unintentionally or not demonstrates that white women too were forced to sit in a corner submissively as their husbands broke their vows. It also shows that due their inability to express their frustration with their husbands at times anger was directed toward the very person who had no control over the situation, the woman in bondage. It demonstrates how the cast system worked and how women who desired to give their children a better life gave into the advances of white men. The story also showed how this did not always work and the lengths that some women in bondage would go to make sure that their children were safe. In this story you are able to see both the psychological and physical abuse that enslaved women endured on a regular bases. The author of this story is Harriet Ann Jacobs in her book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl follows her real life struggles of being a woman in the ugly clasp of slavery. Although she uses different names in her book researchers have found documentation proving that the accounts
depicted in this story are those of her own life experiences. Her character Linda
The story I will be discussing is entitled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs. This book is relative to more than a few of previous topics that have been discussed in class during lectures. The book touches on the struggles that enslaved women faced on a day to day basis. It follows the life on author Harriet Ann Jacobs and does an excellent job demonstrating how women in bondage unlike their free white counterparts, had no male figure to protect them. At the same time it showed that black women were not the only ones who subject to unfair treatment. Although not as harsh her book does illustrate how white women too are victimized by the harsh reality of slavery. White women who were seen as pure, submissive, and virtuous were also impacted by their husband’s sometimes evil ways. Her book whether unintentionally or not demonstrates that white women too were forced to sit in a corner submissively as their husbands broke their vows. It also shows that due their inability to express their frustration with their husbands at times anger was directed toward the very person who had no control over the situation, the woman in bondage. It demonstrates how the cast system worked and how women who desired to give their children a better life gave into the advances of white men. The story also showed how this did not always work and the lengths that some women in bondage would go to make sure that their children were safe. In this story you are able to see both the psychological and physical abuse that enslaved women endured on a regular bases. The author of this story is Harriet Ann Jacobs in her book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl follows her real life struggles of being a woman in the ugly clasp of slavery. Although she uses different names in her book researchers have found documentation proving that the accounts
depicted in this story are those of her own life experiences. Her character Linda