In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacob’s autobiographical account describes her arduous journey from enslavement to freedom. Jacobs uses the alias Linda Brent to examine how slavery has affected modern values. Although the story’s slaves are morally upright individuals, they lack a sense of belonging and legal protection. Jacob’s life story illustrates women’s struggles in cultures that did not welcome them. The concept of slavery, whereby black people are exploited under the control of white masters, is the novel’s most extensively explored literary aspect. Slavery is so prevalent in our culture that it threatens people’s sense of humanity, natural laws, and dignity. Black people are physically, psychologically, and socially abused under slavery with weak protection from the law. In the biographical narrative, Jacobs uses an inherent story mechanism to examine human exploitation brought on by slavery.
The sexual abuse of enslaved women is successfully explored in Jacob’s narrative, a taboo subject to address in the nineteenth century. Unlike black males, who only experienced physical and emotional torture, women experienced other sexual harassment from their white masters, losing their morality and dignity. Linda is adamantly opposed to Dr Flint having sex with her, but he mockingly asserts that “you are designed for my use, to accept directives, and everything in my will” (Jacobs 68). The term demonstrates how enslavement became less aware of sexual purity as a component of respect during the period. Additionally, it shows that their owners treated women as objects of lust and seldom got protection. The slave women’s situation is painful and incomprehensible since suffering goes beyond what one typically experiences when being held captive (Abbas 65). The law failed to uphold the rights of sold and subjugated women because they were subject to their owners’ physical and sexual abuse.
The men in the narrative were subjected to such terrible slavery that they hardly ever resisted their owners’ mistreatment of their families. The guys are “brutalized by lash” and held under restraints that prevent them from upholding morality. According to Linda, “the men were so scared of their lords that they allowed their daughters and wives free passes” (Jacobs 49). The author uses the accusation to illustrate how much morality and dignity were suppressed by slavery. Normally, males are seen as the family’s defenders, but in the narrative, enslavement was so harsh that they disregarded their conventional duties (Chummee et al.,52). It also shows that masters have power over males because of their idea. The white enslavers cited the men’s frailty as evidence that black people deserved slavery since they were less intelligent and unruly than white peopHowever, reviewing wing the state of the silver reveals that many have experienced abuse, particularly following tiffs with their owners.
Jacobs portrays how slavery may pervert social impulses like respect for mother-child bonds to highlight the severity of slavery. For instance, the white owners were permitted to have children with the enslaved people without being chastised, whereas the blacks were severely reprimanded and punished by the state in situations of incest (Roddy 12). The unfair implementation of the law forced black people to live with severe restrictions on their freedom. The offspring that the white men fathered with slave women were unacknowledged. In addition, they sold their kidnapped children frequently, removing them from their moms. Slavery was so pervasive that it prohibited parents from using their normal parental affection. Due to their intense intoxication from the practice, the white masters could not rescue their offspring from servitude.
The enslaved people’s surroundings and conditions weakened the instinctive drive for parental respect. Jacob examines a shocking situation in which a mistress belittles the mother of a slave girl about to die. The occurrence might signify that the enslaved people’s brutal exposure damaged their humanity and respect for other black people. Jacobs also uses the incident to highlight how slavery has damaged the respect for motherhood, an inherently important quality for all women (Maallem 112). The scenario also suggests that the number of mothers among slave parents has decreased due to slavery compared to white women. Black women were humiliated and ridiculed for their position, whereas white moms were celebrated and admired. Although the white owners taught the enslaved people biblical principles, they did not put those principles into effect, furthering the standard of slavery. Linda gives the following example: “The bible preached the love of mankind as we love ourselves, but she neglected to recognize me as her neighbour” (Jacobs 10). The term is a reminder that even religious teachings could not quell white people’s inhumanity. They went beyond what was acceptable by violating the moral code they revered.
Through extreme physical abuse, moral degradation, and confrontation with natural behaviours, the issue of slavery is deeply expressed in the text. Like other writers and anti-slavery activists, Jacobs highlights the injustice slavery causes while denouncing its proponents. In the book’s conclusion, the author alludes to personal freedom, but she still fears restitution by the master’s children. Even though she is free, the text encounters that mention slavery as a self-owned title produced in compliance with racism nevertheless apply to her. The judiciary is also affected by the rot slavery causes on society since it protects all of its citizens.
Works Cited
Chummy, Kamonwan, and Posatorn Suksen. “Masculine Power Presented through Rape in Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Narkbhutparitat Journal Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University 11.3 (2019): 51-57.
Roddy, Rhonda Kay, “In search of the self: An analysis of Incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs” (2001). These Digitization Projects. 2262. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2262
Jacobs, Harriet Ann. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, with “A True Tale of Slavery” by John S. Jacobs. Vol. 119. Harvard University Press, 2009.
Abbas, Abbas. “The Reality of American Nation Slavery in The Novel Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs.” Journal Ilmu Budaya 8.1 (2020): 116-126. \
MacCallum, Marwa. “The Impact of Slave Mothers’ Sufferings and Efforts on Overcoming Bondage in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs.” (2018).
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