Incidents in the Live of a Slave Girl

Frankie Runnels
11/3/10

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL
By: Harriet Jacobs
When I first read the title “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” I knew that this book was going to be good. I know that as a reader I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I have to say whoever was in charge of designing the cover of this book has done an amazing job to capture the essence of the book. You have a half naked woman with scars on her back and two hands on each side of her with a broken chain in the middle. As soon as I laid eyes on this picture I made an interpretation of the book; I thought to myself of a woman who did as best she could to free herself from the system of slavery hence the broken chains but freedom didn’t come without a price which explains the scars. Which influences me to believe that by my assumption of the picture is exactly what the book is about.
What confirmed my guess is when I found out who the author was, because I remember reading a book, Letters from a Slave Girl, By Mary E. Lyons which is another view of the same story. I believe that this book was a testimony of how serious slavery was in that time. For all of those people who have been taught that this particular issue was over exaggerated and not as cruel as some abolitionist viewed it. Sometimes what people do is make light of the situation and choose not to believe how incredibly horrible it was, and because of these reasons is exactly why we have stories like this. To remind Americans what it means to make a better life for one’s self despite the odds.
The book explains the story through a narrative point of view, replacing her name as Linda Brent to represent her as the main character. You have a young girl that was born into the slavery system. At the age of six this girl has an epiphany that she is in fact a slave, and from that point on she sees her reality in the eyes of a slave. Her first Job is with a mistress that used to be her deceased mother’s. Time passes and the mistress dies off leaving her with the gift of reading and the curse of her relatives. Linda was under the unfortunate slave owner of Dr. Flint and his family. While working there Linda took care of his children, but had to deal with Dr. Flint’s crude advances toward her. He did everything to try to get her to submit to him by whispering nasty things in her ear, or write letters to her. His lustful desires were so strong that his wife soon took notice. She goes to Linda and accuses her of throwing herself at Dr. Flint. Linda explains to the wife that she has done nothing wrong and only wants to continue her job peacefully. For years the Doctor continues with his threats and sexual harassments until the Linda feels she can’t avoid him any longer. She comes up with a plan by sleeping with the neighbor and having two kids with him a girl and a boy named Benny and Ellen. This of course makes the fuels the Doctor’s cruelty to an all time high which causes Linda to make plans of escaping to the north. Since the Doctor made it impossible for her to leave she secretly gather her things and sneak out of her cottage then sneaks into her Grandmother’s attic there she stayed for SEVEN YEARS! By doing this she wouldn’t have to give the cruel doctor the satisfaction of submitting to him, and having him believe that she escaped would drive him mad. During this time Benny and Ellen grew up to early childhood and were soon sold to the relatives of the Doctor’s neighbors. Also the Doctor almost lost all his funds trying to find Linda. This made escaping to the north impossible, but finally she gets the chance to leave north by boat. She makes it all the way to Brooklyn New York she is once again reunited with her children as a free woman she works for a family for a while and during that time Dr Flint was doing everything in his power to try and capture Linda. Soon enough the doctor dies but his children try to get Linda to come back and work for them. Luckily before they could capture her, the family she had been working for buys her freedom for 300 bucks. Thought out this book there were many memorable quotes but my favorite was when Linda’s Grandmother decides to give Linda hope by sending one of her last letters.
“Dear daughter: I cannot hope to see you again on earth; but I pray to God to unite us above, where pain will no more rack this feeble body of mine; where sorrow and parting from my children will be no more. God has promised these things if we are faithful unto the end. My age and feeble health deprive me of going to church mow; but God is with me here at home. Thank your brother for his kindness. Give much love to him, and tell him to remember the creator in the days of his youth, and strive to meet me in the father’s kingdom. Love to Ellen and Benjamin. Don’t neglect him. Tell him for me, to be a good boy. Strive, my child to train them for God’s children. May he protect and provide for you, is the prayer of your loving old mother.”