Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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 father's 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 children's 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 Linda's vigilance and determination not to be forever bounded by the rule of slavery, that is, that she, her children, and her 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 Lind
However, it is apparent that in the ninth chapter of the book, Linda voiced out her opinions of the ill treatment of the blacks in the South. Aside from the physical, moral, and emotional turmoil that the slaves feel due to the bondage of slavery, they also feel oppressed by the Church, the institution that further promotes slavery by asking for the submissiveness and subordination of the slaves to their masters. However, it can be seen in the novel that these hopes were all futile, since the women only despair in the end upon learning that the "bastard" children of the owners or their masters will be sent off to become slaves in far places. " This degrading treatment of free colored people is illustrated by Dr Flint's hostile attitude to Linda's boyfriend, who is a free colored man. Linda at the initial part of the story, meanwhile, perceived the Northerners from the north region, as, "proverbially the hardest masters. This argument says the same for the Northerners, although their treatment of slaves is different from the Southerners; Northerners provide the respect for freedom and humane treatment, which, apparently, cannot be found in the South. They are continually identified as socially and morally oppressed, and this oppression is fueled further because of the area or locality wherein these slaves are in: the Southerners are known to be hostile and abusive in their treatment of slaves. Any violation from the "rules" given to slaves (not eating scraps from leftover foods) and inefficient work will result to an immediate, harsh punishment. Jacobs, however, emphasize in the book that despite their freedom from slavery, free colored people are not free from discrimination and scorn of the Southern society. Chapter 3 is the start of Linda's narrative of slavery in the house. Social conditions and freedom are affected depending on two important elements (as was shown in the novel): social class and locality. The owners sexually exploit the women slaves, fathering them countless children whom they do not acknowledge, and instead, send these children to other plantations o be sold to another slaveholder. It was also mentioned in the book that slaves from the South often escape from their owners to go to the North, wherein there are more prospects of a good future for them. Thus, oppression and disadvantaged locality contributes to the limited freedom the African-Americans had experienced before black slavery has formally been abolished in America. Although the Northerners (and in fact many whites in America) do still have discrimination over black Americans, the people's treatment of the African-Americans is far from the inhuman society of the Southerners.
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