Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Analysis

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl is a novel written by Harriet Jacobs, a woman who was born into slavery in 1813 near Edenton, North Carolina. This book is one of the many slave narratives written in early African-American literature. These types of narratives were a dominant literary factor used in the early works of African-American literature. The two main themes being portrayed throughout the narrative are the coming together of African and American cultures and the corrupting power of slavery. Slave girl displays the coming together of African history, tradition, and religion that came with their American origin. This is shown mostly in the Christmas celebrations that the slaves partake …show more content…
I can only imagine what Linda went through in those dark times. I would recommend the book to people ages sixteen and above because some of the things said are almost too brutal for anyone who is under a certain age to read. “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.” (Chapter XIV) This quote was a very important offering to the literature of slavery. It showed her model of slave women. It is obvious that when Linda understood the fate that she was doomed to, she was more than upset. She went through many different struggles in trying to keep her stature as a woman. That’s why I respect her. Throughout all of the things she was forced to go through, she never allowed her master to violate her, but underwent an enormous amount of stress in attempting this great deal. When Dr. Flint sensed that Linda was becoming a woman, and that she may drift away from what he wanted, he proposed to move her into a small cottage far from the plantation in which she worked, to ensure his complete ownership of her. She refused to let him have a say in the situation. The author knew that her story was nowhere near ordinary. What the book left out that should have been included was that Linda probably was more of a fighter and wasn’t recognized as much as she should have been. In my …show more content…
Slavery was a key factor throughout the narrative and time period. The two main themes that are shown throughout the story are the coming together of African and American cultures and the corrupting power of slavery. In the book “Linda” is being talked about mostly and her struggle as a slave is being reflected on. The books strengths were that it was very well descriptive when talking about everything that was going on and went even more in depth to give the reader a better sense of the different situations in the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who is of age in a heartbeat. This book allows you to get another feel of how slavery was back in the 1800s. I find it fascinating that Harriet Jacobs shows the state of the slave system and displays how corrupt it is while putting it out there. Harriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl in order to present what she went through to the public. She didn’t want people to feel sorry for her. This was for the tragic experience that she had gone through. This particular phase of slavery had generally been kept veiled and she thought the public ought to be made acquainted with the monstrous features that were being used. She took full responsibility of presenting the public with veil withdrawn. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was well written and I would advise