Women Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs - 1540 Words

In the novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents what life was like living as a female slave during the 19th century. Born into slavery, she exhibits, most likely to people living in the North who thought slaves were treated fairly and well, how living as a slave, and especially as a female slave during that time was a heinous and horrible experience. Perhaps a lot harder than it was if one had been a male slave, as female slaves had to deal with issues, such as unwanted sexual attention, sexual victimization and the suffering of slave mothers separated from their children. Harriet Jacobs shows that despite all of the hardship that she struggles with, having a cause to fight for such as trying to get your children a better life and fighting to be able to achieve freedom on your own, can give one a stronger will to live. To illustrate, female slaves in the 19th century had enormously more adversity to cope and manage with then the male slaves; such as sexual assault from the male slave owners and harassment from the female slave owners. Many slave girls would start to be harassed and sexually assaulted around the young age of only 15, â€Å"But I had now entered my 15th year – a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to whisper foul words into my ear† (26 Jacobs). This shows that not only did female slaves have to deal with these kinds of harsh conditions; they had to begin to cope with these circumstances at a very young age. ThroughoutShow MoreRelatedWomen Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs1540 Words   |  7 PagesHarriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl uses clear detail, except when talking about her sexual history, to fully describe what it is like to be a slave. Jacobs says that Northerners only think of slavery as perpetual bondage; they don t know the depth of degradation there is to that word. She believes that no one could truly understand how slavery really is unless they have gone through it. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl do not only tell about the physical pains and hardRead MoreWomen Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs1256 Words   |  6 PagesHarriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl allows Harriet Jacobs, speaking through the narrator, Linda Brent, to reveal her reasons for making public her personal story of enslavement, degradation, and sexual exploitation. Although originally ignored by critics, who often dismissed Jacobs story as a fictional account of slavery, today it is reported as the first novel narrative by an ex-slave that reveals the unique brutalities inflicted on enslaved women. Gabby Reyes Am. History DrRead MoreWomen Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs911 Words   |  4 Pagesnovel Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl by Harriet Jacobs, is the story of Harriet Jacobs under the pseudonym Linda Brent. It tells the life story of Linda and her life as a slave, her battle of freeing her children, and her journey to freedom. The majority of the book is set in a North Carolina small, close knit community in the early 1800s on Dr. Flint’s plantation, Linda’s master and owner. It begins when Linda is a child. Her parents are free and the slave owner who possesses Linda and herRead More Slave Women in Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Toni Morrisons Beloved1596 Words   |  7 PagesSlave Women in Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Toni Morrisons Beloved Slavery was a horrible institution that dehumanized a race of people. Female slave bondage was different from that of men. It wasnt less severe, but it was different. The sexual abuse, child bearing, and child care responsibilities affected the femaless pattern of resistance and how they conducted their lives. Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates the different roleRead More Mary Wollstonecrafts A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl3226 Words   |  13 PagesVindication of the Rights of Women and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Although Mary Wollstonecraft and Harriet Jacobs lived almost 300 years apart from one another, the basic undercurrent of both of their work is the same. Wollstonecraft was a feminist before her time and Jacobs was a freed slave who wanted more than just her own freedom. Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Jacobs’ Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl, Written By Herself wereRead MoreThe Role of Mother for Slave Women in Harriet Jacobs ´ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Harriet Beecher Stowe ´s Uncle Tom ´s Cabin3385 Words   |  14 Pagesthats not the case for everybody. The dehumanizing acts of slavery are eminent in many novels, such as Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. In these novels, slave women were not suppose to enjoy the role of mother. It was either physically taken away or their mother instincts were brutally effected. Slave mothers had to face many consequences and sacrifices for their life and the life of their loved ones. When reading Stowe andRead MoreEssay Harriet Jacobs Life of a Slave Girl1322 Words   |  6 Pages Harriet A. Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Jacobs’s construction of black female empowerment despite the limitations of slavery Harriet A. Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiography written under the name of Linda Brent. This autobiography is a detailed account of her life or lack thereof. I use the term lack thereof because Harriet Jacobs was raised by her grandmother due to her mother dying at a young age. Harriet was taught to readRead MoreHarriet Jacobs’ Fight Against Intolerance713 Words   |  3 Pageson his side; I had determined will. There is might in each† a statement from Harriet Ann Jacobs reflecting her will to overcome the standards of society (97). Harriet Jacobs’ life revolved around slavery from birth to death. Jacobs was a mother of two with determination and insight to make choices to change the way of life for her children. Harriet Jacobs was the first African American women to have her slave narrative published retelling her life story exposing the years she spent escapingRead MoreHarriet Jacobs s Story : The True Meaning Of A Slave s Quest For Freedom1682 Words   |  7 PagesHarriet Jacobs’s story informs the reader of her experiences and transformative tribulations she had to undergo from childhood to adulthood. No one in today’s society could come close to comprehending the amount of heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery women had to suffer and endure during slavery. However, we can all learn from Jacobs’s heartbreaking story to understand the true meaning of a slave’s quest for freedom and the inalienable bond a mother has for her children. Life was toughRead More Slavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs Essays1074 Words   |  5 PagesSlavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs It is well known that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the United States. However, what isnt as well known is the actual severity of slavery. The experiences of slave women presented by Angela Davis and the theories of black women presented by Patricia Hill Collins are evident in the life of Harriet Jacobs and show the severity of slavery for black women. The history of slave women offered by Davis suggests that compulsory labor overshadowed Women Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs - 1540 Words Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl uses clear detail, except when talking about her sexual history, to fully describe what it is like to be a slave. Jacobs says that Northerners only think of slavery as perpetual bondage; they don t know the depth of degradation there is to that word. She believes that no one could truly understand how slavery really is unless they have gone through it. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl do not only tell about the physical pains and hard labor that she went through. It mostly concentrates on the emotional viewpoints on it and what it did to shape who she is. When writing her story, Jacobs had a clear motive. Her motive was one of a political taking. She writes through her experiences and sufferings to make it clear to people, mainly the Northerners, and more specifically white women in the North, how slavery really is. She does not want sympathy, however, she does want to arouse the women in the North to a realizing sense of t he condition of two millions of women of the South, still in bondage (2). Jacobs wants people to take action in antislavery efforts. Jacobs in telling her story uses many techniques to make it effective. Some of the techniques that she uses are dealing with the use of her language, her selections of incidents and details, and her method of addressing an audience. Harriet Jacobs tells her story by breaking it down into sections according to different important aspects of her life. In doingShow MoreRelatedWomen Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs1256 Words   |  6 PagesHarriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl allows Harriet Jacobs, speaking through the narrator, Linda Brent, to reveal her reasons for making public her personal story of enslavement, degradation, and sexual exploitation. Although originally ignored by critics, who often dismissed Jacobs story as a fictional account of slavery, today it is reported as the first novel narrative by an ex-slave that r eveals the unique brutalities inflicted on enslaved women. Gabby Reyes Am. History DrRead MoreWomen Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs1540 Words   |  7 PagesIn the novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents what life was like living as a female slave during the 19th century. Born into slavery, she exhibits, most likely to people living in the North who thought slaves were treated fairly and well, how living as a slave, and especially as a female slave during that time was a heinous and horrible experience. Perhaps a lot harder than it was if one had been a male slave, as female slaves had to deal with issues, such as unwantedRead MoreWomen Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs911 Words   |  4 Pagesnovel Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl by Harriet Jacobs, is the story of Harriet Jacobs under the pseudonym Linda Brent. It tells the life story of Linda and her life as a slave, her battle of freeing her children, and her journey to freedom. The majority of the book is set in a North Carolina small, close knit community in the early 180 0s on Dr. Flint’s plantation, Linda’s master and owner. It begins when Linda is a child. Her parents are free and the slave owner who possesses Linda and herRead More Slave Women in Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Toni Morrisons Beloved1596 Words   |  7 PagesSlave Women in Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Toni Morrisons Beloved Slavery was a horrible institution that dehumanized a race of people. Female slave bondage was different from that of men. It wasnt less severe, but it was different. The sexual abuse, child bearing, and child care responsibilities affected the femaless pattern of resistance and how they conducted their lives. Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates the different roleRead More Mary Wollstonecrafts A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl3226 Words   |  13 PagesVindication of the Rights of Women and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Although Mary Wollstonecraft and Harriet Jacobs lived almost 300 years apart from one another, the basic undercurrent of both of their work is the same. Wollstonecraft was a feminist before her time and Jacobs was a freed slave who wanted more than just her own freedom. Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Jacobs’ Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl, Written By Herself wereRead MoreThe Role of Mother for Slave Women in Harriet Jacobs ´ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Harriet Beecher Stowe ´s Uncle Tom ´s Cabin3385 Words   |  14 Pagesthats not the case for everybody. The dehumanizing acts of slavery are eminent in many novels, such as Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. In these novels, slave women were not suppose to enjoy the role of mother. It was either physically taken away or their mother instincts were brutally effected. Slave mothers had to face many consequences and sacrifices for their life and the life of their loved ones. When reading Stowe andRead MoreEssay Harriet Jacobs Life of a Slave Girl1322 Words   |  6 Pages Harriet A. Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Jacobs’s construction of black female empowerment despite the limitations of slavery Harriet A. Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiography written under the name of Linda Brent. This autobiography is a detailed account of her life or lack thereof. I use the term lack thereof because Harriet Jacobs was raised by her grandmother due to her mother dying at a young age. Harriet was taught to readRead MoreHarriet Jacobs’ Fight Against Intolerance713 Words   |  3 Pageson his side; I had determined will. There is might in each† a statement from Harriet Ann Jacobs reflecting her will to overcome the standards of society (97). Harriet Jacobs’ life revolved around slavery from birth to death. Jacobs was a mother of two with determination and insight to make choices to change the way of life for her children. Harriet Jacobs was the first African American women to have her slave narrative published retelling her life story exposing the years she spent escapingRead MoreHarriet Jacobs s Story : The True Meaning Of A Slave s Quest For Freedom1682 Words   |  7 PagesHarriet Jacobs’s story informs the reader of her experiences and transformative tribulations she had to undergo from childhood to adulthood. No one in today’s society could come close to comprehending the amount of heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery women had to suffer and endure during slavery. However, we can all learn from Jacobs’s heartbreaking story to understand the true meaning of a slave’s quest for freedom and the inalienable bond a mother has for her children. Life was toughRead More Slavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs Essays1074 Words   |  5 PagesSlavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs It is well known that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the United States. However, what isnt as well known is the actual severity of slavery. The experiences of slave women presented by Angela Davis and the theories of black women presented by Patricia Hill Collins are evident in the life of Harriet Jacobs and show the severity of slavery for black women. The history of slave women offered by Davis suggests that compulsory labor overshadowed