very harsh punishment against human beings. Without a doubt‚ the conditions that the slaves lived under could be easily described as intolerable and inhumane. Even slaves have described slavery as cruel and horrible; instead of complaining and protesting against their masters some of them accepted the torture and wickedness from the white man. But the question is why despite all the cruelty inflicted toward the slaves they did not complain about the bad treatment received from their masters to people
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In the memoir‚ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl‚ by Harriet Jacobs‚ she describes her early years with a very happy view yet‚ with an unaware sense. She was sheltered and protected‚ from her evil reality for six years. That was until her kind mistress died and Jacobs began to mature and realize she was just a piece of property. While‚ everyone she knew and cared for were slowly leaving her. Over time‚ Jacobs describes her developing consciousness of her own condition as a slave when more tragedies
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Through the late 1700s and early to mid-1800s‚ most slave narratives written were done by men. It was not until 1861 when Harriet Ann Jacobs emerged with the first slave narrative that we got from the viewpoint of a woman. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl‚ is Jacobs’ life story of how she escaped slavery and gained freedom for herself and her children. She detailed her life as a slave and how she hid in her grandmother’s attic for seven years to dodge her master’s avid‚ obsessive lust for her
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conditions‚ as well as physical and psychological tortures. Considering the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl‚ Harriet Jacobs is an example of the person who endured tough times in the hands of slave-owners (Garfield and Zafar 12). Jacobs’s case served as an eye-opener to the world on matters regarding the quality of life and a social status‚ which slaves underwent in the ancient times. Essentially‚ slaves assumed the lowest class that could not make its own decisions‚ and the analysis of
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Essential themes from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs used the pseudonym‚ Linda Brent... Harriet Jacobs was born a slaver in 1813 in North Carolina. Her earliest memories were of a relatively happy family life‚ “fondly shielded... never dreamed that I was a piece of meat.” This was largely due to her father’s reputation as (though a slave) a man of intellect and skill‚ and talents and optimism of her warm‚ nurturing grandmother. At six years old‚ she grieved her
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this was not common for many of the slaves‚ and it is the reason why she used the name “Linda” to talk about herself during her stories‚ because if by any chance her master knew that she could read and write‚ she would have had the punishment of being whipped and put in jail. During the first chapters of her book we could notice that not all her years as a slave were miserable. In fact the first six years of her life were happy‚ because she didn’t know she was a slave‚ once she grew up her innocence
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In the passage "Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs she says "Slavery is bad for men‚ but is far more terrible for women." In my opinion I believe that it is equally harsh on both men and women. In Frederick Douglas narrative he explains how slavery was immoral for men. One of the ways men suffered from slavery was physical. In his narrative he shows how slavery was when he says "Upon this he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger‚ tore off my clothes‚ and lashed me till
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eighteen-hundreds‚ slavery was a very popular trade. Down in the south‚ slavery basically meant that African-Americans could be sold and owned as property for laborious work. The slaves were put to work as soon as possible no matter the age to help support their families or save enough money to free themselves. Many of the female slaves were often sexually harassed and/or raped by their masters; which in turn made them even more hated by their mistresses. This often gave women a sense of fear when around
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The basic plot of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as an anti-slavery text and the typical plot of the 19th century genre of sentimental fiction are alike in that just as the 19th century genre did‚ Harriet Jacobs made a plea to the Northern‚ white‚ female listeners during a time when "true womanhood" truly meant chastity and virtue. Harriet Jacobs pushes the message that slavery makes it totally impossible for a black woman to live as a virtuous or chaste person. As she supports some of
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equality after all the protests and law regulations. It is obvious to us that racism and sexism still exists in today’s world. Not everyone are treated equally by the others‚ but it is much better compare to the past. In the reading of “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” written by Harriet Jacobs focused on the racial equality; “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker” written by Benjamin Franklin focused on gender equality. Both of their lives are heavily affected by the unfair treatment of the laws. Even
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