Book Quote:
“When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs 1820). –Norton Anthology: American Literature
Internet Quote:
“a unique perspective on the complex plight of the black woman as slave and as writer. In a story that merges the conventions of the slave narrative with the techniques of the sentimental novel, Harriet Jacobs describes her efforts to fight off the advances of her master, her eventual liaison with another white man (the father of two of her children), and her ultimately successful struggle for freedom” –Oxford University Press
Summary:
A born slave, Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs) is not aware that her future has been decided since she was born. When she is six years old she becomes possession but is not treated as a slave until she is twelve years old. Her first mistress was close to her mother and taught Linda to read and spell. When she moves to her new master’s Mr. and Mrs. Flint, she is talked down to and is of interest to Mr. Flint. Falling in love with a colored free born, is forbidden to marry and that is when Mr. Flint starts to show his interest in her and abusing. Afraid of giving Flint satisfaction, she gives her innocence to a white-man named Mr. Sands. Unmarried as he was didn’t seem so bad, giving Sands two children one a boy and one girl (the one who will suffer greatly as her mother did). She decides to hide in her grandmother’s attic for seven years as slave catchers would surely catch her. Runs to the north with her daughter as her son hides in California. She learns she legally has a new master who is set in getting their property back, her. Running away she is informed she has been purchased by her friend Mrs. Bruce. She dislikes this notion but accepts her friends’ kindness and returns to her in New York. She is freed from Mrs. Bruce as she purchased her to have to power to do so.
Opinion:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl exposed more than other writers did at this time, exposing
her shame as others wouldn’t. Women were to be pure, no matter what your status was. She had to share her story, hoping others to see what she went through and making the necessary changes for others. Of course there were scholars that have said it is fiction. Make it seem that there is no truth; otherwise people would want to end slavery. Men suffering in slavery are mentioned very little because they have been exposed enough by other writers, someone needs to remember the women slaves who have additional tasks than the field worker, such as warming the bed with her master. Causing problems could result in the separation of her family as it had happened to her grandmother who she was close to hers. Jacobs didn’t want peity but want us the reader to feel her pain and to know her feelings as to feel enough to try to abolish slavery.
“When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs 1820). –Norton Anthology: American Literature
Internet Quote:
“a unique perspective on the complex plight of the black woman as slave and as writer. In a story that merges the conventions of the slave narrative with the techniques of the sentimental novel, Harriet Jacobs describes her efforts to fight off the advances of her master, her eventual liaison with another white man (the father of two of her children), and her ultimately successful struggle for freedom” –Oxford University Press
Summary:
A born slave, Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs) is not aware that her future has been decided since she was born. When she is six years old she becomes possession but is not treated as a slave until she is twelve years old. Her first mistress was close to her mother and taught Linda to read and spell. When she moves to her new master’s Mr. and Mrs. Flint, she is talked down to and is of interest to Mr. Flint. Falling in love with a colored free born, is forbidden to marry and that is when Mr. Flint starts to show his interest in her and abusing. Afraid of giving Flint satisfaction, she gives her innocence to a white-man named Mr. Sands. Unmarried as he was didn’t seem so bad, giving Sands two children one a boy and one girl (the one who will suffer greatly as her mother did). She decides to hide in her grandmother’s attic for seven years as slave catchers would surely catch her. Runs to the north with her daughter as her son hides in California. She learns she legally has a new master who is set in getting their property back, her. Running away she is informed she has been purchased by her friend Mrs. Bruce. She dislikes this notion but accepts her friends’ kindness and returns to her in New York. She is freed from Mrs. Bruce as she purchased her to have to power to do so.
Opinion:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl exposed more than other writers did at this time, exposing
her shame as others wouldn’t. Women were to be pure, no matter what your status was. She had to share her story, hoping others to see what she went through and making the necessary changes for others. Of course there were scholars that have said it is fiction. Make it seem that there is no truth; otherwise people would want to end slavery. Men suffering in slavery are mentioned very little because they have been exposed enough by other writers, someone needs to remember the women slaves who have additional tasks than the field worker, such as warming the bed with her master. Causing problems could result in the separation of her family as it had happened to her grandmother who she was close to hers. Jacobs didn’t want peity but want us the reader to feel her pain and to know her feelings as to feel enough to try to abolish slavery. 
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