Posted: September 17th, 2022

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Introduction
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is first and foremost a work of engaged fiction, a tool for furthering the fight against slavery by politicizing respectable Northern white women as women. Jacobs agreed with her sister abolitionist Amy Post that her story should be shared to expose the gendered evils of slavery commonly overlooked due to their sexual orientation. Whereas several other ex-slave narratives acted as both testimonials against a cruel system and a source of financial support for their writers, Jacobs wrote solely to spread antislavery ideology.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Linda did not know that she was a slave until the age of six, when Mr Flint became her owner. Since childhood, she was surrounded by love from those who cared for her. Her mother, her younger brother, a bright and affectionate child, and her maternal grandmother, who was a treasure to her, were all present as she grew up (Jacobs 7). Linda and her younger brother William were left in the custody of Linda’s mistress, whom Linda adored as if she were her mother when Linda’s mother died (Jacobs 8). When Linda’s mistress died when she was twelve, she became the domain of the daughter of the mistress’s sister. Since the daughter of the mistress’s sister was just five years old, Mr Flint became her new owner (Jacobs 13). Linda’s good days ended at this stage. Linda had to be a tough, strong girl from this point on because she had to endure Mr Flint’s mistreatment (Jacob 14). When Linda tells her master about her desire to marry her black boyfriend, he humiliates her and beats her. He declined her request and, at the same time, humiliated her (Jacobs 16). During the incident, he taunted her and threatened to kill her if she did not stop the request.
On the other hand, Linda maintained her composure and stood her ground, even though it meant endangering her life. She tells Mr Flint, “For addressing you frankly, you have hit me. You have no idea how much I hate you (Jacob 16).” She expressed her disappointment with Mr Flint, informing him of her feelings towards him. Her childhood was normal until her mistress died when she started living like a slave by being mistreated and humiliated by his master.
Linda’s harrowing experiences and that of other slaves proved that although slavery was terrible for men, it was far worse for women(Jacobs 88). Linda endured much more humiliation because of her gender than her male counterparts. She explains the social expectations of the nineteenth-century woman. She also notes that slavery prevented women from meeting these expectations (Jacobs 90). Linda describes the double standards that existed between white and black women. She is an example of a female slave’s ability to uphold the prescribed virtues, even though her circumstances often prohibited her from doing so (Jacobs 94). Women’s expectations were divided into four categories: piety, purity, domesticity, and obedience. The circumstances under which the female slaves lived directly opposed society’s values and virtues (Jacobs, 98). As a result, the female slave was denied their womanhood identity. It was yet another way in which slavery sought to devalue the value of women. Linda struggled with this regularly. Her love for one rare, loving mistress exemplifies her belief in the ideas of piety, purity, and domesticity (Jacobs 100). Women were disregarded and overworked like dogs and repaid with imprisonment and stripes.

Slaves were subjected to physical and spiritual violence, suffering, and pain through torture. If a slave refused to accompany his new owner, the result was whipping or imprisonment until he/she complied (Jacobs 234). Slave owners sexually abused women as well. The masters insisted on having sexual intercourse with them since they considered them attractive. They did so without considering their marital status or that of the slave (Jacobs 235). Rape and violence occurred regularly for women. However, men mostly endured such punishments when they refused to accompany their new masters (Jacobs 236). These punishments show how the slaves were dehumanized and deprived of their rights.
After having had enough of Mr Flint’s mistreatments, Linda decides to run away. She ends up in a tiny garret that is just nine feet long and seven feet wide. The space was too tiny that she could not stand up. For nearly seven years, she lived in this hole with no sun, no fresh air, and hardly moved (Jacobs 122). She eventually managed to flee to the North, where she and her children were much happier and, most importantly, free (Jacobs 125). Linda’s most challenging part was when she had to leave her child to suffer in slavery, she wished her children would die, but then she did not want to lose them.
Linda eventually escapes to the North by sea after seven years in the attic. She reunites with Ellen in the North, who was nine years old and lived in Brooklyn, New York. She finds employment as a nursemaid for the Bruce’s, a New York City family that is very kind to her (Jacobs129). Linda spends a year in England caring for Mr Bruce’s daughter, and she is free of racial discrimination (Jacobs 124). Linda is heartbroken about her sale and enraged by Emily Flint and the whole slave system (Jacobs, 127). Mrs Bruce, on the other hand, says she will always be grateful because compared to her life in the North, they treated her equally while in England.
The Fugitive Slave Act compelled slaves to return to their owners even if they lived in a free state. The passing of this act made her vulnerable, and she worried that she would return to slavery (Jacobs 212). Yet, she was determined to put the experiment to the test. Mr Bruce proposed that she go to England and nurse a new infant. She was sent to England, where she stayed with a senator’s wife.
Work cited
Jacobs, Harriet, and Julie R. Adams. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. ProQuest LLC, 2002.

References
Jacobs, H., & Adams, J. R. (2002). Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (pp. 365-66). ProQuest LLC.
Jacobs, H. A. (2009). Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, with “A True Tale of Slavery” by John S. Jacobs (Vol. 119). Ace my homework – Write my essay – Harvard University Press.
Brent, L. (2021). Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Standard Ebooks.

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