Summary Of Harriet Ann Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Although she wrote under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Harriet Ann Jacobs effectively conveyed her supportive opinions on the abolition of slavery in her very raw, personal narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by painting a vivid picture of the heartbreaking circumstances that not only she faced as an escaped slave but of the many others who were dehumanized for years without the opportunity of creating a better life. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is important because Jacobs was essentially the first female to publish an extensive narrative of her accounts throughout her time as a slave. One chapter in particular, “The Loophole of Retreat,” sets the scene in a way that exemplifies

It was very confined and rodent infested. The hole was enclosed by darkness and had so little room that it was often hard to find enough air to survive. She could hear the voices of her children through the cracks of the attic boards, however, and she ached to see their faces. She describes this sickening living environment in vast detail, but somehow manages to believe that it could be worse. She emphasizes how she would rather be stuck in this dark, dreary hole in which she stayed for seven years than live her life out as a working

It is already stressed later in the chapter that she feels as though she “would have chosen this rather than her lot as a slave,” but by using the word “retreat” as her chapter title, it can be assumed that she was treating this part of her life as a vacation or refuge. She is already an escapee, so refugee could correlate with that fact, as well. Living in this hole, being treated no better than the rats and other rodents that crawled over her relentlessly, dehumanized her; however, in her eyes and heart, her current situation was no more than a getaway from the life of a working slave she lived before. She was not only running from slave life but from Dr. Flint, as well, who treated her like she was nothing. Jacobs claims she was “never cruelly over-worked,” “lacerated,” or “branded,” among other things. Until she fell under the wrath of Dr. Flint, she had always been treated well and was cared for; but under his watch, Jacobs faced abuse that truly degraded her integrity as a human being. It can be understood how eager she was to get away from those circumstances. No human being wants to be treated as though they are less than the dirt they walk on. She was not physically abused, but mental and psychological abuse can be just as damaging, if not worse. Although Jacobs was not treated harshly for quite some time, it