Preview

Letters From A Slave Girl Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
475 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Letters From A Slave Girl Analysis
Letters from a Slave Girl

Letters from a Slave Girl is a fictional biography by Mary E. Lyons. This story is about an eleven year old girl who’s name is Harriet. Harriet is eleven when she starts to write letters to her mom. In her letters she tells her mom about her first owner, Margaret Horniblow, that had died. Margaret made a promise to Harriet’s own mother on her deathbed and Harriet hopes that Margaret will free her in her will. But, Harriet is upset to find out that Margaret has left her with her three year old niece, Mary Matilda; because of this Harriet has to live with Mary’s family, which includes her mean ol’e father, Dr. Norcom. Then she starts writing letters to her father, she tells him about about life at the Norcom house, like how hard work it is
…show more content…
With the coming arrival of Harriet’s pregnancy, she has her first child but then moves to go live with her grandmother because Mrs. Norcom is furious with her pregnancy. Even after her second child she still is living with her grandmother. But, Dr. Norcom is getting very impatient and tells Harriet to either move into a cottage he built for her or go live on his son’s land and she will have to sell her kids. Harriet picks to go live on the land but instead of having to sell her kids she runs away to a friend’s and hides there for some weeks. Harriet moves to a couple of different places for a while but then finally ends up in a small garret cut up above her grandmother’s house. Dr. Norcom gets mad because he can’t find Harriet so, he arrests her brother, aunt, and kids to Sawyer. Harriet then starts to write letters to Dr. Norcom, trying to convince him that she is living in New York. Harriet hopes and prays everyday that Samuel Sawyer will free her kids, but he doesn’t do that, instead he takes their daughter and gives her to a cousin in New York as a servant. Harriet has the chance to escape on a ship to the north but decides not to because of her grandmother’s fear that she

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slave Girl Chapter Vii

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A look at chapters V, VI, and VII of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl revolves around a teenage slave girl and the control placed over her by her slave owner. The passage goes to reflect the atrocities placed over many slaves of the south in that time. It goes to show that these poor individuals had no power over the system in place over them and that they had to submit to the rule of those masters above them regardless of how heinous the act was. These acts were not unique to just her but was known to happen to many slave girls throughout the south. Slaveries affect on the south was made very apparent in the early to mid 1800's. Slaves made up 1/3 of the southern populations and was making its way further west into eastern Texas. At the…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” is an autobiography written by Harriet Jacobs and narrated through her alter ego Linda Brent. Brent was a female born into slavery in a small southern town during the 1820’s. This was a time in the United States in which many white southerners bought into and exploited the lucrative business of slave trading and slave labor. Throughout her text Brent explains not only the hardships of growing up as a slave but specifically the awfulness of living as a female slave in America during the mid 1800’s. She wrote this story to inform female white northerners of the terrible situations female slaves were forced to endure in hopes to gain their support in the abolishment…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harriet Jacobs was born a slaver in 1813 in North Carolina. Her earliest memories were of a relatively happy family life, “fondly shielded... never dreamed that I was a piece of meat.” This was largely due to her father's reputation as (though a slave) a man of intellect and skill, and talents and optimism of her warm, nurturing grandmother. At six years old, she grieved her mother's death. Jacobs’s mistress, Margaret Horniblow, took her in and cared for her, teaching her to read, write, and sew (a promise from this woman to Jacob's dying mother). When Horniblow died, she willed (as property) twelve-year-old Jacobs to her niece, and Jacobs’s life took a dramatic turn for the worse.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “But can that hour singing and shouting sustain them through the dreary week, toiling without wages, under constant dread of the lash ?” In the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs explains that after Nat Turner’s insurrection, slaveholders decided to expose slaves to religion, so they would not follow Turner’s decision to violently rebel. Slave masters also gave them Christianity to control them by teaching that if slaves disobey their masters, God would see them as sinners and evil. But the slaves uncovered the truth about the church, and they were amused by their masters’ lies. Slaves used the church as a speedy way to gain some type of freedom. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs further explained how slaves related to church and how masters related to church. The connection between slavery and church was that slave masters used church to have slaves obey their without masters getting murder and slaves used the church as a way to have some type of freedom in slavery.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I’m sorry you had to go through what you did. But may I say, and hopefully you will forgive me for saying this, for a slave, your life was better than most other slaves. After all, you became free. I must apologize for almost giving you away. I should not have trusted that man who told me you were going to run away, after all, you were a loyal slave and a good one. You saw the abuses that many slaves experienced. They had iron muzzles and thumbscrews. Though it must have been scary to watch, it is much worse to have to personally experience such abuses. You also survived the horrible slave ships, one of the many acts of God that fell upon you.…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I am called Binte I am one of the women that has been trapped inside the great horrifying white bird that has gulped me down and I am currently in the birds stomach, I have so much fear inside me it makes me wonder if I am going to ever be set free from there disgusting pain I only wish to have my family beside me. I remember the days were I was free to play with my friends, and I was told that no harm would come to us when I was 15 years old I had to be taught how to clean, cook and all the important jobs I had to do when became women. It was not just me that had to be trained to become a woman it was all very exciting because I knew one day that I also would have my own family and would have to put these skills in to action. We had been told that we had to always carry a weapon for any reason like for example getting kidnapped by a white man or defending from animals, but one day I just forgot I wanted from all the hard work I’ve been doing. So I went in the bushes it was like a jungle so refreshing I never wanted to leave that beautiful place well I should of just not moved that’s what got me captured in their hands I was even very surprised when black people helped I was crying out loud so that my god can help me.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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…

    • 1478 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On this book the tail is about a girl that suffers as being a slave and the worst part is that she didn't even know she has a slave. Linda Brent saw a lot of things while being with Dr. Flint, there for she came to a conclusion that¨ slavery deadens the moral sense of all involved¨. Now I'm not sure if the slaveholders moral was deaden since at that time that was the correct way to act, or I think what she means when she uses the word involved she means the people who are slaves. In any case she thinks that this is a non motivation for people that are in that situation.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As for the treatment of the theme, Linda and Charity both make the decision to have sex before marriage. However, the way they go about it and the context of each novel makes all the difference on the reader’s perspective of the heroines. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Linda would have preferred to stay chaste, or at least marry her colored suitor. This is displayed when she states, “I wanted to keep myself pure; and, under the most adverse circumstances, I tried hard to preserve my self-respect; but I was struggling alone in the powerful grasp of the demon Slavery; and the monster proved too strong for me. I felt as if I was forsaken by God and man; as if all my efforts must be frustrated; and I became reckless in my despair”(69-70).…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    12 Year a Slave Essay

    • 1619 Words
    • 7 Pages

    During a time of cruel punishment and harsh conditions of life as a slave in the 19th century South, there was a book that shed a light on the life of a slave unparalleled in past as well as in modern literature. That book was entitled Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Northup was born a freeman that was obtained from his father after being freed by the Northup family due to loyal service. Growing up in the free state of New York, Solomon was allowed an education that was rare because of the sad disposition of the majority of his race. Solomon gained much knowledge of industry and hard work from his father. As a free man of color, he enjoyed various jobs and hobbies from timber raft building to playing the violin. On Christmas day in 1829 he married the love of his life Anne Hampton. In 1834, he resided in Saratoga Springs where his three children were born by the names of Eliza, Margaret, and Alonzo. Thirty years of freedom would soon come to a halt to serving the next unforgettable and unimaginable twelve years as a slave.…

    • 1619 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The life of an African American slave was drastically different from that of a white American. Americans, especially the white males, were the dictators of an African American slaveś life. The common white man, wanted only to use these ¨different¨ for work that they did not want to do.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl and Phillis Wheatley On Being Brought From AFRICA To AMERICA, both seem to slap reality into their audience's faces. These two female authors set a pathway for so many other authors, who were also slaves, in order for their side of the story to be told. Their stories were so inspirational that they inspired so many generations to come. These two authors really push the idea of being equal and freedom throughout their text; however, Phillis Wheatley talks about how the white people saved her from her land while Harriet Jacobs does not at all.…

    • 1788 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacobs gives a detailed account of the life story of “Linda Brent” which is the pseudo name for herself, outlining the events which primarily focuses on her escape from her slave master, “Dr. Flint.” After learning that Dr. Flint has already fathered 11 children from his slaves, it is hard to imagine why he is never able to successful pursue Linda. After all, just based on the sheer number of his incidents of sexual relations with his slaves, it would seem highly unlikely that he will be they type that would be polite enough to wait for a mutual consent. The fact that Linda is able to be able to avoid having any sexual relations, despite countless pursuits by her master shows she possesses many strong qualities which helps her in her struggle. Her upbringing and strong sense of self is perhaps the number one weapon in her fight against Dr. Flint. The values in which her parents instill in her are so firmly in place, that she is perhaps one of the most self-confident female slaves that ever lived. The fact that she knows how to read, and writes the first slave narrative book speaks for itself. After her parents passes away, she becomes under the care of her grandmother, who plays an important role in shielding her from her lustful master. Her grandmother’s reputation and influence in society helps her in more ways than one. Those two factors combined with Dr. Flint’s need for power, and social acceptance helps to work in Linda’s favor, and keeps her safe from the sexual advances of her master.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    American Slave Diary

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I was rubbing my hands into my Masters' hair, his blonde bushy hair was covered in soap. As the water ran down his face he told me how grateful he was to have me as a slave. My heart-beat rose, I was blushing, my hands were shaking, I started daydreaming about what a great life we could have, we would travel the world, and have a happy…” “NONA!! HURRY UP, MY EX IS COMING TODAY”. I rushed my fingers firmly through his hair. I was about to stop the water, but Otho, the second slave, barged into the bathroom panicked.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Struggle, desperation, perseverance; these themes and more seem to be the central thesis of Harriet Jacobs' novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Based around the personal struggles of a slave's individual quest for freedom, this novel also details the incidents and lives of those whom she comes into contact with. The series of events that transpire over the course of the main character, Linda's, life as a slave define for herself and her audience not only what slavery means, but also what freedom means.…

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays