Imagine living where the only thing you believed in was threatened by everyday life. This was a reality in Harriet Jacob's' "Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl," it shows a cruel, inside description of slavery. In this essay Jacobs changes the perception of the suffering from the concentrated work they had to do, to the emotional struggle they had to endure. In Jacob's' essay she concentrates on how the role of slavery stands to uphold womanly virtues and honor for a female slave.
             In Jacobs' essay, she feels that her innocence and virtue are her only possessions. She feels that without these, she is just another female slave with no hope. She refers to this by saying "I want to keep myself pure: and, under the most adverse circumstance, I tried hard to preserve my self respect..."(489). The reason Jacobs feels so strongly about her beliefs is because she has nothing else. She lives he life everyday with no meaning but to serve her master. Jacobs feels that if she is able to keep her innocence and virtue she has something in her life to take pride in.
             Another reason Jacobs felt so strong about her beliefs was because her grandmother was a big influence in her innocence. She feels that her grandmother takes great pride knowing that her daughter is a virtuous woman. Jacobs states "He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principals my grandmother has instilled"(477).
             Jacobs feels that her innocence and virtue is threatened by the horrible state of slavery by a master who feels he owns her physically and mentally. One example of this mental torture is when Dr. Flint would order his food in the piazza, and have Jacobs stand over him brushing the flies away. She says "he would seat himself there with a well satisfied smile..."(480) watching her body as she swatted flies. Although he is not physically touching her, he is emotionally hurting her by inferring that he owns both her body and soul. Jacobs goes on in her sto...