The Slave Mother Analysis

“The Slave Mother,” written by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper tells a story of a young slave boy being taken away from his mother to be sold to another family for work. An excerpt from, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, “The Slave’s New Year’s Day,” by Harriet Jacobs, also explains the life of a slave whose days never change, due to the unstability of the slave system, even on a special holiday like New Years. Both stories show how the mothers of their children are in despair, due to new families taking them away, portraying how the slaves do not have freedom nor the ability of staying with their family. In “The Slave Mother,” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a son is taken away from his mother, right before her very eyes. This situation

On New Year’s Day, each slave is being put up for sale again, unless their owner wants to keep them for another year. This holiday is meant for celebration but for a slave, it is a day they dread. One mother went up to the auction block with her seven children, expecting only some to be taken from her, but, “I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all.” This portrays how each slave does not have a say in where they go or who they stay with. This shows the lack of freedom they have, especially since they are put up to be sold with their children that usually never stays with their mother. In addition to that, the children were often sold to a slave trader and their mother was bought by a man in her own town. All the slaves dread this day, becoming more and more depressed as they begin to lose more members of their families from other owners. One women second guesses why she even lives here, stating, “Gone! all gone! Why dont God kill me?” This shows how upset the slaves really do become, while they lack the right of being able to work for themselves or staying with their biological