Motherhood In Linda Brent's The Life Of A Slave Girl

Linda is the name used to narrate Harriet Jacobs’s life story. Linda used to have a happy life with her parents and then was sent to live with her mother’s mistress when her mother died. Her mistress thought her how to read and treated her very well, but when she died Linda was sent to Dr. Flint’s house. Dr. Flint eventually tried to force Linda to have a sexual relationship with him but instead had an affair with Mr. Sanders in hopes it would disgust Dr. Flint and he would send her away to Mr. Sanders house. Instead, Dr. Flint sent her to a plantation to be a field hand and her children were soon to be sent to do the same.

Primary Document Analysis Marisol Cruz The author of this document is Harriet A. Jacobs (pen name “Linda Brent), who was born as a Chattel slave in 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina of the United States. Linda was practically born into slavery because of the mother and father being slaves themselves. The white men rule and had the power to treat their slave however they wanted as long as they did what they were told to satisfy their needs. The abuse that the female slaves had to endure was physical, emotional and sexual.

When reading Harriet Jacobs/Linda Brent’s autobiography addressing her life as a slave who grew up in the deep south and who later fled to the North, two important characters make an impact on her life. Like many people, Jacobs/Brent’s life actions are heavily impacted by the people and the atmosphere around her, driving her decisions, wants, and desires. Although Jacob/Brent’s grandmother makes an impact on her life, Dr. Flint makes a greater impact on her life. With his pushing, he helps determine whom she has children with, controls her life through the livelihood of her children, and even impacts her life after he has passed away through his surviving daughter and son-in-law.

In Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs narrative they show how the institution of slavery dehumanizes an individual both physically and emotionally. In Jacobs narrative she talks about how women had it worse than men did in slavery. While men suffered, women had it worse due to sexual abuse. The emotional, physical, and sexual abuse was dehumanizing for anyone.

In the autobiography, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacobs is able to tell her story and show the pain of bondage she endured. Jacobs lived from 1813-1897, and all she ever knew was the life of a slave. It is her story, even though she uses a pseudonym, Linda Brent, in order to protect her identity. Her real name is later discovered by scholars, and she is then given the credit for her writing. The book was published in 1861, after fleeing north to New York.

Harriet A. Jacobs was born a slave in North Carolina in 1813 and became a fugitive in the 1830s. She recorded her triumphant struggle for freedom in an autobiography that was published pseudonymously in 1861. As Linda Brent, the book 's heroine and narrator, Jacobs recounts the history of her family: a remarkable grandmother who hid her from her master for seven years: a brother who escaped and spoke out for abolition; her two children, whom she rescued and sent north. She recalls the degradation of slavery and the special sexual oppression she found as a slave woman: the master who was determined to make her his concubine. With Frederick Douglass 's account of his life, it is one of the two archetypes in the genre of the slave

“It was a woman-a girl,rather-who came to us in the early darkness of an icy January evening; the first package since the raid of the previous October.” The girl they took in ended up being pregnant, escaping for the chance for their child to be free. Flora’s story was not true, but many slave escape stories are like this one, and Geraldine Brooks allowed us to see it through Mr. March’s eyes in the most heartwarming

As a woman, Harriet Jacobs faced unique challenges in the slave society. She was forced to endure sexual abuse from her owner and struggled to protect her children from the same abuse. This experience is clear in her narrative, which focuses mainly on the sexual misuse of female slaves. She writes with passion, using her own experiences to gain the attention of free women in the North (Jacobs).

Harriet was hit with a 2lb weight across the head where she sustained a horrible injury. This caused her to start having very bad headache, episodes of narcolepsy and sleep insomnia .Realizing at that very moment as the escapee was getting punished she knew one day she would attempt her run at freedom. At the age of eighteen Harriet was hired by Miss Susan as a nanny. Harriet didn’t know how to clean and take care of the new baby for that she was beaten.

As her uncle, Mark had been planning her escape far away, she was on her way to find freedom, as Harriet stumbles across a sign, which reads “300$ Reward! Run Away subscriber, an intelligent, and bright girl named Linda, 21 years of age.” In her book Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl, she changed many of the names to protect their identity. At this time, she knew that being out in public would increase her changes of being found, so she had to plan out her every move, which getting caught was not the plan. Soon, as her family waited until a dark night, they brought her back to Molly’s house and put her in the small attic with nothing more but a blanket and water, which she still kept it very optimistic.

Harriet Ann Jacobs is the first Afro-American female writer to publish the detailed autobiography about the slavery, freedom and family ties. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent to keep the identity in secret. In the narrative, Jacobs appears as a strong and independent woman, who is not afraid to fight for her rights. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published in 1961, but was unveiled almost 10 years later due to the different slave narrative structure. Frequently, the slave narratives were written by men where they fight against the slavery through literacy by showing their education.

Harriet A. Jacobs who’s also known as Linda Brent was born into slavery in 1813. However, she didn’t know that she was born into slavery until the age of six. The Incidents in the Life of a Slavery Girl was written autobiographically by herself. It is a story about her and her children tries to escape from the slavery. Jacob wants her readers to feel pity and heart ache as they discovering of her hard life she had to endure.

Harriet Jacobs is at the bottom of the hierarchy of the south. The only thing they cannot readily take from Harriet is her willing consent and her story. Harriet would have been well aware of the brutality that underpinned her situation. Any assertion of independence meant the immediate risk of her life. Thus, her defiance and declaration of her personal space comes at the greatest price.

Harriet Jacobs (AKA Linda Brent) was born a slave, although up until the tender age of six she had not known such a thing because know one ever treated her as such. Linda learned to read, write and sew under her first mistress whom was very kind to her growing up. At the age of twelve Linda's first mistress died and willed her to Dr. Flint which would later cause much suffering and pain throughout her life. Linda was subjected to sexual harassment as well as physical abuse from Dr. Flint during her time as his servant. She was later temporarily able to ward off his advances by having an affair with Mr. Sands in which she had two children from him.

“Motherhood is somewhat difficult for a slave like Roxy because children of slave women were legally slaves, regardless of the status of their fathers” (Rasmussen 199). Although her love for her child is unceasing, it is her decisions that, eventually, bring him into