Similarities Between Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl And The Red Badge Of Courage

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Courage Within The short film The Red Badge of Courage by screenwriter John Huston and the short story “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by author Harriet Jacobs both illustrate courageous situations. Both Huston and Jacobs used the main character to demonstrate these courageous acts. Huston used Henry, a union soldier, to explain the courage required during war. Jacobs used a different approach by using Linda, a mixed female slave, to display courage during repression. Huston and Jacobs wanted to display acts of courage in their works by showing courageous acts during war and repression, as well as making the decision of ‘fight or flight.’ In the short film The Red Badge of Courage, our main character Henry is on his way to fight in …show more content…

Her master Mr. Flint is struggling to find slaves, therefore he does everything in his power to keep Linda under his rule. The author states “Mr.Flint was hard pushed for house servants, and rather than lose me he had restrained his malice.” This shows that Mr.Flint is struggling to keep servants therefore, he is being kind to Linda. He even plans on taking her children to the plantation in an attempt to blackmail Linda into staying. This quote “Sally, they are going to carry my children to the plantation tomorrow; and they will never sell them to any body so long as they have me in their power.”, shows Mr.Flint’s plan and Linda’s knowledge of his plan. However, Linda finds the courage to flee from her master, despite the consequences of potentially getting caught or beaten. Linda soon arrives at her grandmother’s house in an effort to find safety. As stated “they will never sell them to any body so long as they have me in their power.”. This shows how Linda leaves her children behind to keep them safe from harm. This act helps display the courage Linda used to escape and save her children from harm. Linda’s acts of courage are examples of other ways that courage can be …show more content…

Henry was initially scared of war and death, but then found the courage to fight. He wanted redemption as well as victory against his enemy. Linda was scared for her life as well as her children’s lives, yet still managed to find the courage to flee from her master's wrath. Both stories show how important courage is. Whether it is the courage to stay and fight, or leave and escape. Flight or fight is the brain’s natural response to danger. Most people say that flight is cowardly and you should stand your ground. However, both responses take strength and