Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs is a biographical narrative, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent and tells of her life as a slave in the South and eventually her escape to the North. As a child, Linda did not realize she was a slave because of her family always tried to protect her. Once she did find out that she was a slave her faith and spirit carried her to believe that one day she may be able to escape a live of servitude. Linda’s journey also takes her through motherhood, which also helps her to escape the abuse and sexual advances of her master. She is also able to escape the abuses of her master through the help of her grandmother and her Aunt Nancy. Linda eventually decides that to save her and her family

Throughout Linda’s time as a slave in Dr. Flint’s household, Aunt Nancy tried to protect Linda from Dr. Flint’s advances. When Dr. Flint ordered that his daughter was too sleep in his apartment he knew that a servant had to be by the side of the child so he chose Linda to do it. But to avoid being alone with Dr. Flint, “At night I slept by the side of my great aunt, where I felt safe. He was too prudent to come into her room. She was an old woman, and had been with the family for many years” (30). Aunt Nancy was successful in helping Linda avoiding Dr. Flint. She also helped Linda to escape slavery. When Linda is hiding in the attack of her grandmothers house, Aunt Nancy helps to get Linda to a boat to be hidden: “ My aunt Nancy’s husband was a seafaring man, and it had been deemed necessary to let him into our secret. He took me into his boat, rowed out to a vessel not far in distant, and hoisted me on board” (94). Aunt Nancy was able to help Linda resist Dr. Flint’s wills on her and to aid in her attempt at

Sands. William had always resolved to one day be free and never live his life as a slave again. He always encouraged Linda’s escape and never let her give up even when her family was thrown into jail because of it. Even when Linda wanted to turn herself in, her brother still encouraged her to keep going. He said, “Wherever you are, dear sister, I beg of you do not to come here. We are all much better off than you are. If you come, you will ruin us all. They would force you to tell where you had been, or they would kill you” (86). He was always there for Linda even in her times of weakness like when he sent the letter. Eventually William was sold to Mr. Sands and they were to move to Washington D.C. because Mr. Sands was now a Congressman but William would still write letters to the family telling him he was okay. The letters eventually seized and they were informed that William had escaped which confused Mr. Sands because he had treated William well. Eventually when Linda made it to the North, she was able to meet with William: “There are no bonds so strong as those which are formed by suffering together” (140). Even though they had not seen each other in years their bond was only made stronger because they had suffered together through