Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is a powerful statement revealing the impossibility and undesirability of achieving the ideal put forth by men and maintained by women. The slaveholders used their superior position of power to rape, beat, abuse, and molest black women who were weaker than them. The slave owners were portrayed as heartless men and the slaves were portrayed as their victims. Linda Brent bared how she was sexually abused by her master, “He threatened me with death, and worse than death, if I made any complaint to her. Strange to say, I did not despair. I was naturally of a buoyant disposition, and always I hoped of somehow getting out of his clitches” (Jacobs AD 471). In struggling against the brutal dynamics of a system that simultaneously set before her ideals of a true woman, but refused to acknowledge her as a human being, Jacobs emerges scarred but victorious. Her rationality powers and ability to take action facilitated her efforts in finding strategies to deal with sexual harassment from her master, for maintaining family unity, and in establishing a moral code that harmonized with her beliefs and situation. Linda took on another white man, Mr. Sands as a lover because she knew it was inevitable that she would bear a white man’s child. She described her relationship with him as “an a object of interest to man who is not married, and who is not her master, is agreeable to the pride and feelings of a slave, if her miserable situation has left her any pride or sentiment” (Jacobs 55). Since Flint denied Linda a marriage to a free black man and refused to sell her to anyone, Linda knew that she would never be allowed a traditional home and family. By choosing Sands as a lover and father of her children, Linda went against the ideal image of womanhood and showed independence. Making this choice meant that Linda willingly gave up her virginity outside of marriage. This is an action that was completely against the traditional moral code of her time. Linda exhibits the integrity of a survivalists. She thinks and speaks for herself, devises a plan and acts on it. She simultaneously kept in mind family unity and protection for her children. While attempting to embrace the ideals of womanhood, Jacobs was able to recognize and disregard standards that could not be applied and established for herself concepts of integrity and a sense of self.
Stowe's aim in writing Uncle Tom's Cabin was to convince Americans that slavery was evil and Stowe points out that the worst thing about slavery is that it destroys the family. Stowe appeals to the mothers among her readers to have sympathy for slave women. In Uncle Tom's Cabin Cassy is one of the many black mothers whose children have been separated from them. Cassy, the daughter of a wealthy white man and a slave woman is sheltered and convent educated. The death of her father results in her sale to a man who becomes her lover and who she adores. But after some years, he sells her and her children to pay a gambling debt. Cassy is driven half-mad by the loss of her son and daughter, and searches in vain for them. She is owned by a series of masters. By one of them she has a son, who she kills with an overdose of opium, rather than facing the pain of losing another child to slavery (Beecher Stove 469-464). Cassy is a good-hearted woman; her act of kindness is best shown when she cared for Tom after he was whipped. Unfortunately, the loss of her children and her experience as the mistress of men she didn’t love hardened her. Cassy serves as an example of a good mother turned bad. During this period of time slave women were taught to care for others as well as their own families. In Cassy’s circumstance, her action was submissive because she was taught to love and protect her children instead of killing them. Under slavery, the very power of maternal love can become violent, and its fierce sense of protection can be perverted to the point that a mother can kill her own child. The compelling contrast illustrates slavery's destructive influence on morality and the choices slaves were left with endear circumstances.
The roles of women have left a significant impact of feminism throughout the years. This can be proven in the slave narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Linda was disgusted with the fact that she was considered as nothing more but a piece of property, “I shuddered to think of being the mother of children that should be owned by my old tyrant…O virtuous reader! you never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely subject to the will of another” (Jacobs 55). Linda is denying society’s firm position for women by refusing to be owned, refusing to submit, and refusing to be bought out of her captivity. Linda rejects the notion of true womanhood that has been passes on for centuries and takes control of her future and her children’s future. Linda gains her peace by escaping to the north (Jacobs 241).
Throughout the narrative, Linda contests any identities or labels placed upon her by whites. Linda rebels against the model of womanhood, but she maintains a sense of feminism due to her trials and tribulations as a slave. Linda creates her own image of a true women by creating a need for respect as an ideal of womanhood. Power is a commodity that no slave is allowed, but Linda gathers power form the moment she accepts she will not be a true woman. Linda’s power is gained by the choices she makes. When she takes on Mr. Sands as a lover, she empowers herself to exercise authority when she is vulnerable. Linda also controls Dr. Flint by writing him letters that were posted from the north. Mr. Flint travels back and forth to the north but comes back without his property (Jacobs 193).
Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is one of the few narratives depicting the degradation’s endured by female slaves at the hand of brutal masters. Jacobs’ narrative is sending a message to women to come together and end the unfair treatment all women are subjected to. By bringing images of slavery and the message of unity of women to the forefront, Jacobs is attempting to end the tyranny over women perpetrated by men and the tyranny over blacks perpetrated by whites.
Harriet Jacobs’ work offers a unique perspective on the complex circumstances of a black woman and a slave and a writer. The books were written to illustrate the depravity of slavery to people living in the North. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a very powerful book that humanized the black race and exposed the evils of slavery to those in the North who were blind towards it. In the South Blacks were treated worse than animals with all the whipping, constant mental degradation, and the instant family deconstruction. The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a compelling novel of the powerful thoughts and feelings of Harriet Jacobs during a time when slavery was the main aspect of life. Being that she lived during this time period with the war and the conflicts that followed the publication of her timeless masterpiece, this true story is an American classic delving deep into the hearts of citizens and challenging the authority and the government of the United States in the mid 1800's. One can only imagine the kinds of controversies Jacobs stirred.
Works-Cited List
Stygall, Gail. “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Academic Discourse: Readings for
Argument and Analysis. 3rd ed. Ohio: Thompson Custom Publishing, 2003.
Brent, Linda (Harriet A. Jacobs) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Scholarly Press,
Inc., 1961.
Beecher Stowe, Harriet. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. New York: Bantam Classics, 1983
Adams, Julie R. Incidents of a Slave Girl. Harriet Jacobs Home Page. Jul. 1997-Oct 2003.
Dept. of English, Virginia University. Oct 21. 2003
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjhome.htm
Mercer, Judy. Harriet Ann Jacobs. Writer and Activist. Copyright © Trudy Mercer
Mar 1998-June 2002.
<http://www.drizzle.com/~tmercer/Jacobs/webauthor.shtml