Review of “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”

Incidents in the Life of a buckle down Girl A Review Harriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of a knuckle down Girl to show Northern dissolve people what was actually accident to knuckle downs. She hoped her eyewitness stories would convince them that they should speak up against thralldom and unite in the effort to end it. She was especially interested in demonstrate acquit white women the difference between her life and theirs. She wanted them to see that many a(prenominal) things they took for granted were denied slave daughters and women.Jacobs was asking free people to look at slavery through her eyes and imagine the pain in the neck, both physical and emotional, that she and early on(a) slaves were forced to endure. Even though she was a slave, her first six historic period were happy ones. Her father had skills that do him valuable to the white people so he was allowed more than license than the average slave. Her grandmother was the daughter of a slave hol der. She was granted freedom just now then recaptured. She was allowed to make bills by selling crackers after her slave duties were done.An injustice Jacobs describes early in her book is the pain suffered by slave families who are garbled when one member is auctioned off to the highest bidder. She tells virtually this happening to her grandmother who helplessly watched as her son was auctioned off at the age of ten for $720. Jacobs knew the pain of a family being torn apart would weaken a free charrs stand on slavery. Males were auctioned off more than fe males because owners were more likely to keep females as sex partners and to father boorren by them.Slave owners make promises to slaves only if never felt obligated to keep those promises. Jacobs grandmother had been promised freedom when her mistress died. The executor of the 2 estate, Dr. Flint, instead sold her for $70. In spite of what the go forth said, he got away with selling her because she was property and no o ne held him amenable for this unlawful act. She too was never repaid when she lent her life savings to her mistress. devil of the most chilling all the samets Jacobs reports witnessing are on knaves 15 and 16.She tells of a male slave who was savagely beaten by Dr. Flint because the slave argued with his married woman after finding out their child was literally the son of Dr. Flint. She goes on to tell the story of a young slave girl in labor delivering her masters child. The masters wife stood by mocking the young girl as the newborn died. The slave girls mother watched as her only child also died during child birth. Jacobs wrote, The poor black woman had further the one child, whose eyes she aphorism closing in death, while she thanked God for taking her away from the greater bitterness of life. Much of the book explains Harriets attempts to avoid Dr. Flints sexual advances. When she reached the age of 15 he began a relentless sideline of her. She was disgusted by his atte ntion. She did not want to lose her virginity to her master as she proverb many other slave girls do. She prayed for a way to furbish up away from him. She endured the jealousy of Dr. Flints wife who recognized what was deviation on. She was in love with a free black man but her master forbid her to have any contact with him. After she convinced her lover to go away, Harriet met Mr. Sands.She became intimate with him in another effort to making water the unwanted advances of Dr. Flint. She had children with Sands but still was not able to set down free. Eventually she ran away. She hid for 7 years in a cramped kowtow space at her grandmothers house. Jacobs goes into detail about her escape to the North and the people who were kind enough to help her in her efforts to stay in contact with her family and to stay hidden from Dr. Flint. He act his search for her until he died. Jacobs then hid from his family who began a search for her. Harriet learned she couldnt depend on Mr.Sa nds for help in getting their children 3 freed. She lived for a time with Isaac and Amy Post who were activists working for the Underground Railroad. Eventually a woman named Mrs. Bruce bought Harriet Jacobs from Flints children for $300 and she gave her her freedom. Her grandmother got to see Harriet free but died shortly after that. Harriet found out that her children, Emily and William, already knew things like who their real father was and where she had been hiding for all those years.Jacobs is very graphic when she describes slavery and the dreadful treatment of slaves. She is very good at detailing her thoughts and reactions to the horrible things she saw and experienced. She reminds free women that most women have the same dream of a love husband, children and a happy home. She also makes it clear that only free women quite a little live their dream. She often expresses the belief that slavery is worse than death. On page 47 she challenges doubtful readers to visit the So uth and witness the injustice of slavery for themselves.Im sure that the book does not include all the events that made Harriet Jacobs who she was. There were probably some good memories she could have shared but that would not have supported her argument or fulfilled her purpose. It is not clear to me why Dr. Flint was constantly asking for Harriets warmness and never forced her to have sex with him. He did with other slave girls. I wonder if he actually loved her and wanted her to call for to him willingly. He also searched for her for many years until his death. Why didnt he just rape her as he believed he had a counterbalance to?This book is easy to read, interesting, and well written. I dont genuinely believe a slave could write that well though. I also doubt she could have lived in a crawl space for 7 years without more serious physical and mental harm. Some things exponent have been exaggerated to accomplish the authors goal. She succeeds in showing readers how unjust s lavery was. Its a good book because, even today, we need to be reminded about how ignorant, cruel and evil people push aside be. Not all of Americas history is good. We should never inhume how the slaves suffered.