ipl-logo

Harriet Jacobs Life In Slavery

622 Words3 Pages

Harriet Jacobs' was was born into slavery on the 11th of February in 1813 but was not aware until the age of six when her mother passed away. After escaping slavery, she went on to write a narrative of her life, changing the character's names to protect their identities. During her life in slavery, Jacobs' suffered many tragedies, such as sexual advances from Dr. James Norcom, (Dr. Flint in her narrative) her master, which she only rejected. Later, she goes on to have a sexual relationship with Samuel Tredwell Sawyer, (Mr.Sands in her narrative) and has two children as a result. Because of her rejections towards her master's sexual advances, Jacobs' is sent to a plantation. She later runs away to hide in a shed connected to her grandmother's …show more content…

At the beginning of her narrative, Jacobs' talks about how she saw a young slave girl die after childbirth “In her agony she cried out ‘O Lord, come and take me!’” while her mistress stood beside for her asking “‘You suffer do you?’...You deserve it all, and more too’” (Jacobs'). The audience is shocked and upset by the horrible treatment slaves received, when they should be treated like everyone else. Because of their upset reaction to the treatment of the slaves, Jacobs' is convincing women of the north to fight against slavery. She talks not only about how slavery affected adults, but how it affected children as well, specifically hers. She explains how Benny, her son, “was standing at the gate. He had heard [Dr.Flint] say he had gone to find [his mother] and he called out ‘Dr. Flint, did you bring my mother home? I want to see her’” (Jacobs'). Jacobs' children were under the belief that their mother was in New York, when in reality she was hiding in her grandmother's shed. For the audience, this is heartbreaking, to hear that all a child wants is to see his mother, and that he is missing her dearly. Jacobs' uses this to prove to the women of the north that not only were the adults affected majorly, but the children were as well. She wants them to see this and understand how difficult slavery was and work to abolish

Show More
Related
579 Words | 3 Pages

As a woman, Harriet Jacobs faced unique challenges in the slave society. She was forced to endure sexual abuse from her owner and struggled to protect her children from the same abuse. This experience is clear in her narrative, which focuses mainly on the sexual misuse of female slaves. She writes with passion, using her own experiences to gain the attention of free women in the North (Jacobs).

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

Although she did not receive any physical punishment by her master, she lived in a tight-knit community and was aware of the conditions of other slaves who received brutal punishments. For example, Jacobs notes that “every where men, women, and children were whipped till the blood stood in puddles at their feet.” (page 56). Female slaves lived in fear that they would be raped by their masters. Jacobs’ master, Dr. Flint, often made relentless sexual advances at her, and justified his behavior by saying that she was “made for his use.”

Read More
159 Words | 1 Pages

The work of this memoir is a record of experiences Jacobs faced in real life. That form of autobiography is indistinct with the truth because she is recollecting memories, which is refined through some creativity. There are multiple pieces of dialogue in the narrative that Jacobs could not have been secretive about; it is also not likely that her reminiscence was good enough to bring mind to the countless details included. A memoir 's virtue is often that it claims to speak for the defenseless and bears witness to a man 's lack of compassion. Harriet speaks on behalf of her sisters in slavery, and calls upon the women from the north to notice and take action against the distinguishing system known as slavery.

Read More
1136 Words | 5 Pages

Harriet Jacobs took a great risk writing her life as a house servant in the south and a fugitive in the north. Her story confronts the issues of female slavery, sexual abuse and rape from a woman's perspective. For example, Douglass focuses on the quest for the ability to read and free speech, while Jacobs focuses on the rights of women to protect their families and raise their children without interference from a "master". And although Douglass' narrative revolves around the fight for freedom of a sole individual, Jacobs' describes the struggle for freedom of a woman who is supported by her family and community. Without a doubt, Jacobs presents a unquestionably feminist view of

Read More
1078 Words | 5 Pages

Then she starts her novel by claiming that she has lived a quiet and peaceful life with her parents until she has turned six years old when her mother died. She has gone to live with her mother’s mistress who has been so kind to her and has taught her to read and sew. But unfortunately after a

Read More
512 Words | 3 Pages

In The Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Ann Jacobs chronicles her live as a slave. During this time, she would spend much of her time hiding in an attic compartment, with a small hole that let her look outside. In her writing, Jacobs uses many rhetorical strategies to communicate her ideas, and keeps the reader interested using her language and pacing. In the passage, Jacobs describes how she spends her days on the plantation.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Many women had children taken away from them to be sold in the slave trade, miscarriages due to malnutrition or abuse, and/or children who were a result of rape by their master. After the birth of her daughter, Jacobs says, “When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had even been before. Slavery was terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women” (Jacobs, p.54). Her biggest fear for her daughter was that her purpose would be to provide Dr. Flint with more slaves. When Jacobs makes her decision to run away, she constantly fears for the safety of her children, hoping that they will be sold to Mr. Sands then freed from there.

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

Analogous in form to the spiritual autobiography, the slave narrative emphasizes the difficulty of upholding moral goodness under the weight of slavery. By revealing herself as a “fallen woman” Jacobs creates a hazardous problem, capable of eliminating the sympathies of a primarily white audience. Moreover, Jacobs risks portraying herself as an impure woman, whose virtuousness departs from the piousness and gracefulness typically exemplified by the ideal woman or “angel in the house,” according to the “Cult of True Womanhood.” Therefore, in an effort to preserve the ethos of her argument, Jacobs attributes her unchaste condition to the systemic effects of American slavery. Hoping to destroy the ideology of benign paternalism, Jacobs reveals her consequential ethical dilemma through a faint description of her master’s, Dr. Flint’s, licentious behavior.

Read More
742 Words | 3 Pages

Jacobs was born into slavery. Her owner Mr. Flint made her live in their house because they were scared she would try to escape if she lived in the slave quarters. Little did her owner know she was slowly

Read More
2155 Words | 9 Pages

Harriet Jacobs Incidence In The Life of A Slave Girl is Harriet’s very own autobiography, written to highlight impactful moments of her life as a child in slavery, moments during mother hood and eventually to her quest North to gain both the freedom of herself and her children as well. Episodes in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriett Jacobs, who took the pseudonym Linda Brent, is a convincing novel intended to bring out a women's activist voice in its perusers. Jacobs utilizes the force of her words and encounters as a slave to draw out the women's activist in men and ladies, however particularly in the white, Northern lady. She hopes to draw out "an abolitionist voice [that she, a] slave mother is relying upon her white, Northern, female

Read More
520 Words | 3 Pages

She talks about how she was treated by Dr. Flint " But Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave." Although in Jacobs narrative she was treated, in Douglass' his grandmother was whipped "The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped, and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped the longest." He also talks about how bad women had it "He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome, would he cease to swing the blood-clooted cowskin." Then he talks about how slavery was like hell "It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass."

Read More
782 Words | 4 Pages

Harriet Jacobs, referred to in the book as Linda Brent, was a strong, caring, Native American mother of two children Benny and Ellen. She wrote a book about her life as a slave and how she earned freedom for herself and her family. Throughout her book she also reveals countless examples of the limitations slavery can have on a mother. Her novel, also provides the readers a great amount of examples of how motherhood has been corrupted by slavery.

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

Through an unwanted, forced rejection of Republican Motherhood due to slavery, Jacobs appeals to her audience to achieve her goal of denouncing slavery. If she were to criticize the patriarchal institutions outside of slavery, people would not be as sympathetic to the cause. This way, Jacobs is proving that freed African Americans, in a world without the institution of slavery, can add to the country in the same way

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

My father was a carpenter, and considered so intelligent and skilful in his trade, that, when buildings out of the common line were to be erected, he was sent for from long distances, to be head workman. On condition of paying his mistress two hundred dollars a year, and supporting himself, he was allowed to work at his trade, and manage his own affairs. His strongest wish was to purchase his children; but, though he several times offered his hard earnings for that purpose, he never succeeded.” (page 820) Harriet Ann Jacobs was born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina in 1813. Jacobs grew up in a family where her father was able to keep her and her brother together without being separated.

Read More
155 Words | 1 Pages

Harriet Jacobs’ life story is full of pain. She was born to a slave family. She enjoyed happy family life until the death of her mother, when she was a tender child. At the age of six, she was taken into the home of white mistress, who taught her to read and to sew. “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away’’ (ILSG 6).

Read More

More about Harriet Jacobs Life In Slavery

Related Topics

Open Document