Incidents in the Life of a Sla
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl In her essay, "Loopholes of Resistance," Michelle Burnham argues that "Aunt Marthy's garret does not offer a retreat from the oppressive conditions of slavery - as, one might argue, the communal life in Aunt Marthy's house does - so much as it enacts a repetition of them...[Thus] Harriet Jacobs escapes reigning discourses in structures only in the very process of affirming them" (289). In order to support this, one must first agree that Aunt Marthy's house provides a retreat from slavery. I do not. Burnham seems to view the life inside Aunt Marthy's house as one outside of and apart from slavery where family structure can exist, the mind can find some rest, comfort can be given, and a sense of peace and humanity can be achieved. In contrast, Burnham views the garret as a physical embodiment of the horrors of slavery, a place where family can only dream about being together, the mind is subjected to psychological warfare, comfort is non-existent, and only the fear and apprehension of inhumanity can be found. It is true that Aunt Marthy's house paints and entirely different, much less severe, picture of slavery than that of the garret, but still, it is a picture of slavery differing onl
Having explored the inevitable fate of a slave, there is but one assumption left - that the only outlet to freedom for a slave is freedom itself. He was denied the right to have his family and refused the possibility to purchase that on which decency could never put a price tag. y in that it temporarily masks the harsh realities of slavery whereas the garret openly portrays them. The slaveowner may have financially lost, but to his own ethics, he has won. This comfort becomes virtually non-existent for it too is controlled by the slaveowners who "came to the conclusion that it would be well to give the slaves enough of religious instruction to keep them from murdering their masters" (57). How can one be sold and still claim to be free? A price has been put on his life. They cannot build a family structure and they cannot be identified by family name, but through the church, they can build a community and identify themselves as Christians. Throughout her novel, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents these and several other structures that suggest a possible retreat from slavery, may appear from the outside to provide such a retreat, but ideally never can. However, like the previous false retreats I discussed, freedom is in the eye of the beholder and no matter which way you look at it, in Linda's society, the beholder will always be the slaveholder. To have a child is only to provide the slaveowner with "an addition to his stock of slaves" (52) that could be torn away and sold at his leisure and to have a family is to live in fear of this day. If one escapes, then is he truly free? He may seem to be, but lurking behind will always be the slaveholder waiting and sneering. Let us explore the only ways in which a slave can achieve freedom - escape, sale, and death. Even her elaborate scheme, which drove Dr.
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Acceptance Essays
